A New College Life
by Kumiko-kun
Summary: Ed enters a college in Central City by himself, leaving Al and his mom back at home. With his new life in Central, new friends, and a new feelings. There are some things that are best hidden from family. Yaoi! RoyxEd
1. The Beginning

**Disclaimer: **I don't own FMA… sad for me lol

**Title: **A New College Life

**Pairing: **Roy x Ed

**Summary: **Ed leaves his family in Resembol to enter a college in Central City where he learns to become a science major. While in Central City he meets his new friends and starts something new. Unfortunately, with new friends comes new feelings and some things are sometimes best hidden from families.

**Info: **AU. Ed has real limbs. Everyone in here is in their twenty's for ages. Trisha is still alive in this story and their dad left when they were younger.

Part 1

"Are you really sure you want to go to school in Central?" A woman asked, watching her son as he was packing up his things. "It's really far away and we'll miss you terribly."

"Yes, mom, I want to learn all I can plus I'll be able to finally get to where I want to be in life," the young man replied, throwing a few books into a box sitting on his bed. "I'll miss you when I am gone, you and Alphonse."

For a moment she kept silent, just watching him as he kept putting away the last of his things. Then she sighed and turned around to leave.

"Mom, I'll come home whenever I can, I promise," he said, walking up behind her and giving her a hug. "You know I wouldn't be able to stay away for too long without coming to see you guys."

He heard her laugh a bit before returning the hug. "Come on, Eddie; let's feed you before you leave."

"Mom!!" He had always hated it when she called him 'Eddie" especially in front of Winry because she would pick on him endlessly about it. Before following his mom, he went back into his room and finished filling the last of his boxes and took it downstairs to sit by the door. Walking into the kitchen, he found his mother standing by the stove with Alphonse besides her helping with her cooking.

"Brother, I don't see how you are going to stay alive," his brother said, laughing. "You can't cook at all."

Ed glared at his brother, before laughing with him. "I can cook well enough to keep myself alive. Besides maybe I will find someone who will cook for me." He stuck his tongue out at his brother as he moved to set the table.

Their dinner went from Alphonse picking on his brother about how he couldn't cook to his brother breaking down in tears when anyone mentioned him leaving. It had been the three of them since the boys were small and their father had left them. Though, Pinako and their friend Winry lived down the street, they spent most of their time just the three of them. Ed learned everything he could from his mother and even more from the books he read in their father's old study whenever he wasn't in school. He would have liked to just stay at home with his family but he knew that he needed to get out of the house and explore the world outside their home. It wasn't as if he didn't like his home, he just wanted to learn more than what he already knew. After his visit in Central, he just knew that he wanted to go to school there and learn more.

***Two months earlier***

"_Come on, Edo-kun," a blonde guy said, slinging his arm around Ed's shoulders. "I'll show you around campus."_

"_Jean, I don't even go to school here, I'll get kicked out," Ed whined slightly, trying to pull out of Jean's grasp. "I don't really want a bad reputation before I start school here in the summer."_

"_You worry too much," his friend laughed, pulling him into the courtyard of the campus. "I'll introduce you to my friends."_

_Ed sighed and let his friends pull him through the schoolyard. He didn't really care one way or the other about meeting his friends or not now seeing how he was going home in two days. The only reason he was at the school now was because he had to finish filling out the paperwork for enrollment and find a place to live. He still needed to go back home to pack and move all of his things to his new apartment in Central. Though, Jean did offer to help him move in once he had gotten back to Central._

_Watching his surroundings, he ignored the jabbering that Jean was doing while dragging him further into the campus. Teachers greeted them like he was a student, surprising Ed but there really wasn't anything telling them that he wasn't a student. Suddenly, he felt himself being pulled to his left, stumbling slightly as he wasn't paying attention to his feet. Turning his head, he saw four other guys standing by a large fountain laughing away._

"_Hey guys," Jean greeted them, letting Ed go when they reached them. "Sorry it took me longer to get here but I had to search for my friend here."_

_The four guys turned to look at Ed, surprised written on their faces._

"_Jean, you wouldn't?" The shorter chubbier one said, glancing up at the taller blonde._

"_Please say you aren't," The dark haired man with glasses whined, slightly, turning to look at Jean as well._

"_Oh my god, guys, I'm not screwing the guy," Jean yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. "He's just a friend."_

_Ed's cheeks flared slightly at the way Jean as stated his first sentence. 'Did his friend's really think that?' He thought to himself, mentally shaking his head. Looking up at Jean's friends, he saw that they were all laughing at what they had done to Jean._

"_Calm down, buddy, we're just messing with ya," the dark-haired man said, turning his dark eyes down onto Ed. "We know you're really into the girl at the café."_

"_Her name is Melissa, if you don't mind," Jean scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Anyway, let me introduce you to Ed. Ed, this is Breda (pointing to the first one to talk), this is Maes (pointing to the second one to talk), this is Roy, he's a player be careful," Jean whispered the last part into Ed's ear. "And this here is Alex, he's a bit of a muscle head but he's harmless. Guys, this is Ed, he's gonna start school here in a few months."_

_They all greeted each other and spent the rest of the afternoon talking and chatting away before each of them had to go to their own classes. However, Ed was left standing in the courtyard of the campus with Roy, the man Jean had warned him about. Not that he would ever have to worry about the player part of it, he figured it was another joke that Jean was playing on him._

"_Jean's a real pain in the ass sometimes," Roy mused, scratching the back of his head. "I don't see how you put up with him all of the time."_

_Ed laughed at his statement. "It's quite easy when you can tune out some of the stuff he says when he starts to drone on about certain issues."_

_Roy chuckled. "Man, I wish I could do that."_

_Checking his watch, Ed noticed that it was getting closer to eight. Sighing, he turned to look up at the man standing next to him. "I gotta get back to the hotel soon; my brother will murder me if I don't check in with him."_

"_Brother?"_

"_Yeah, got a younger brother, about a year younger but worries about me just like a mother," Ed explained, laughing slightly. "I think he would kill me for not checking in with him before mom would."_

_Roy laughed. "Sounds like real brotherly love there."_

"_I guess, it gets overwhelming sometimes, especially when it comes to going out," Ed sighed, turning to head out of the courtyard._

"_Mind if I tag along, I don't have any more classes for the night and my apartment isn't too far from here," the dark haired man asked before Ed could get too far away._

_Ed thought for a moment then nodded. He didn't think anything bad would come of his joining him, besides a bit of company would keep him from being lonely. _

"_You can tell me more about yourself then, since all Jean talks about is Melissa," Roy said, slinging his bag over his shoulder as he followed Ed off campus._

"_Really isn't too much to tell," Ed said honestly, shrugging. "I live at home with my mom and brother, dad left when we were young and just hasn't come back yet. I breezed through all of my learning, apparently mom thinks I am some sort of genius."_

"_I bet you are, Shorty."_

_This little comment sent Ed chasing Roy down the streets of Central, gaining strange looks from the others on the streets but he didn't mind he was having fun chasing the man down._

***Present Day***

Throwing the last box in the taxi, Ed sighed and looked up at the doorway of his home. By the front gate, both his mother and brother stood, looking as if the world was coming crashing down on them. Smiling, he walked up to them and gave them both a hug.

"Don't worry, this isn't good-bye forever," Ed reassured them, giving them an extra little squeeze. "I'll be back for the breaks, don't worry."

"Make sure to write to us whenever you get the chance," his mother said, wiping away a few tears from her eyes. "Call me when you get there to make sure that you are okay."

"I will."

"Don't forget," his younger brother scolded, laughing a bit.

"I won't, I don't need you coming to look for me," Ed chuckled, turning to go back to the taxi. "I'll see you."

"Be safe."

Ed waved one last time to his family before seating himself in the taxi and heading on to his new life. He knew that he would miss them dearly now that he'll be at least a day away from them but again it was for the best. Besides, he would get to hang out with Jean and his friends more and maybe learn what it is really like to have friends that aren't family. Sighing, he leaned his head against the window of the taxi and fell asleep. It would be a long trip to central by taxi but it was the only way to know that he would all his stuff there in one piece.

It was close to a day and a half until they reached his new apartment in Central. Outside the small apartment building, he saw Jean standing in front of it, looking as if he was waiting for someone. When the taxi pulled up to the curb Jean walked up to the cab, smiling at Ed.

"I knew one of these times it was gonna be you in the cab," he said, pulling open the door for Ed like he was some girl. "I was getting sick of waiting for you."

"Shut up, Jean, stop acting like it was a date or something," Ed replied, getting out of the taxi and moving to the back of the cab to start getting some of his things packed. "Did you get the keys like I asked you to?"

"Yes, sir," his friend joked, saluting him from the curb.

"Knock it off and help me get my things into the apartment."

For a few hours the two were carrying boxes from the cab into the apartment without saying much to each other besides Jean asking Ed where he wanted a few of the boxes. It was a quiet move, that was until they were done and Jean flopped onto the floor of the apartment acting like he was exhausted.

"What's wrong with you, Jean? Is carrying a few boxes too hard for you?"

"No, it was carrying them up two flights of stairs that was the tiring part," he replied, wiping his face off with a towel Ed had gotten for him. "Tell me again why we couldn't use the elevator?"

"Because, Jean, it was only a few boxes and I didn't want the other people to have to smell you after you were sweating," Ed said, trying his best to hold back his laughter. "You really need to take a shower before you go anywhere."

"It's your fault," was his friend's reply.

"Just go take a shower here."

"I don't have anything else to wear," Jean said as he pushed himself into an upright position. "Besides, you are so small, it's not like anything of yours would fit me anyway."

The next thing he knew, he was pushed to the ground with Ed on top of him beating him over the head with one of the stray pillows that had been thrown on the floor. Ed wore an angry expression on his face while Jean was trying his best to keep Ed from succeeding in hitting him in the face with the pillow. Both were laughing at the end, laying beside each other out of breath more than they were before.

"Just for that, you can't use my shower," Ed said, breathing heavy. "You have to walk home stinky."

"So mean." Jean acted like he was pouting, earning another pillow thrown at him. "Do you need any help unpacking?"

"No thanks, you got class tonight anyway, I don't start for another month or so," Ed replied as he stood up to stretch. "Don't want to be responsible for you to start failing."

After Jean left, Ed was left in his own apartment, staring at all of the unopened boxes. He hated packing his things but he hated unpacking them even more. Even though he didn't have everything he owned with him, he had the majority of it and most of his things were books that he was given or bought on his own. Reading was a passion for him and one of the few things he could do just about anywhere he wanted to but right now he hated reading. With all the books he owned, he wasn't sure if he had enough room to put them all out. Sighing, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the number for his mom. He figured that he would call her and talk to her while he began unpacking his things.

**Elric Resident.**

"Hey, mom, it's Ed." He grabbed the first box in front of him and moved to the room that was going to be his study and set the box on the floor, knowing that books were in this box.

**Eddie, how was the trip?**

His eye twitched at the nickname. "Fine, just got here like an hour ago, my friend helped me get everything in the apartment."

**Glad to hear you are safe. I got the truck to pick up the rest of your stuff from your room to bring to you so that might still be a few days until you get it.**

"Thanks, mom, I knew I wouldn't be able to bring everything on the first run," he stated, opening the box and pulled out a few books. "Tell Al that I got here safe so he can stop worrying."

**I will when he gets home. He's over with Winry at Pinako's.**

"Winry's? What's he doing over there?" Ed threw the box in the corner of the room and started putting the books onto the shelf that was already in the room. "Has he told her yet that he likes her?" He heard his mom laughing on the other end of the phone, knowing that he had hit something with her.

**Not yet, I don't think but she is starting to guess.**

Laughing, Ed switched ears for his phone before speaking again. "I bet she is, she isn't as dumb as she looks," he said, still chuckling as he finished putting the books away. "He'll tell her eventually, I think. He won't be able to hide that for too much longer not without me being there for his excuse when he got nervous."

**That's so true. **He heard his mom chuckle. **Oh, he's home. Do you want to talk to him?**

"No, I'll call back later this week and talk to him, I have a busy week here with starting my job and finishing the stuff for school," he replied, walking from the study back into the living room.

**Okay, sweetie, I'll tell Al you are fine. I love you.**

"Love you, too. Good night," Ed said before hanging up and placing his phone on the counter by the stove. "And now to finish packing and go to bed."

The rest of the evening, Ed spent unpacking the boxes that sat in his living room and putting everything where he thought it should go. He knew he wouldn't really be able to fix up his apartment until the rest of his stuff like his bed got there. For now, he did the best he could before he found himself laying down on the couch that was already there and falling asleep.

**AN: This is chapter 1…. What do you think? Ed in college is going to be coming up, don't worry the whole RoyxEd will come into play soon. I promise! I'll try to be quicker with the updates on this one compared to some of my other ones. PLEASE review!! I update depending on reviews ^^**


	2. History of friends

**Thanks to Lena, **iloveme5895 and blood-stained-rag-doll for reviewing! Hope you enjoy this chapter and review more!!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own FMA… sad for me lol

**Title: **

**Pairing: **Roy x Ed

**Summary: **Ed leaves his family in Resembol to enter a college in Central City where he learns to become a science major. While in Central City he meets his new friends and starts something new. Unfortunately, with new friends comes new feelings and some things are sometimes best hidden from families.

**Info: **AU. Ed has real limbs. Everyone in here is in their twenty's for ages. Trisha is still alive in this story and their dad left when they were younger.

Part 2

After a week in Central, Ed found a job at a local mechanic where he would be working on cars part-time while he was in school. Though, he didn't really need to work with the amount of money his mom was sending him every month, he preferred not to sit at his new apartment all the time without anything to do. Even though he did have Havoc to hang out with whenever he wasn't busy, the last few times he called him to hang out Havoc was either crying because that Melissa girl was at work or he was with Melissa. Apparently, they had started dating a few days ago without Ed even realizing. He hadn't gone back to the school since he was last in Central when he finished his paperwork, not sure if he should go just to take a look at the inside since he was technically a student at the school.

Sighing, he pulled his hair back into a single ponytail and headed out of his apartment, locking the door behind him. He shoved his hands and keys into the pockets of his jeans and made his way down the busy streets toward the school. Not really sure what he was going to do at the school, he figured he looked to see if he could find the library, probably the place he would spend most of his time when he wasn't working or at home. The busy streets of Central were full of people, buying and selling their merchandise and with cars driving up and down trying to get to their destinations. People bumped into with small nods and mumbles of sorry under their breath as they rushed along. He didn't mind much as he knew what it could be like to be in a rush while in a crowded area. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a girl standing right outside bakeshop that was supposed to sell the best tasting pies in all of Central.

Making his way to the shop, he saw a familiar face chatting away with the brunette, a smile on both their faces. He walked up to them, smelling the wonderful aroma that wafted out from the open door. A smile replaced the straight face that he had been making while he walked. Just one time he'd like to buy one of the pies from here and taste it to see if the rumors he had heard were true. His actions must of caught the man's attention that he recognized because he soon had a arm slung around his neck pulling him from his thoughts.

"Heya, Edo," the man said, ruffling his hair which granted a small chuckle from the woman he had been talking to.

"Let go, Maes," Ed replied, trying to push his arm off of his shoulders to stand back up.

Maes laughed while he let him go and stood back a little. "Come to try one of Gracia's pies? She makes the best in all of Central; I eat them all the time."

"I bet you do, but I don't have any money on me now to buy one to try," he replied as he glanced at the girl standing not too far from Maes. "I will once I get a couple days in down at the mechanic's shop."

"You can have a sample piece, if you'd like?" Gracia said with a smile on her lips. "I don't mind really, a friend of Maes is a friend of mine."

"Aww, my Gracia is so sweet," Maes squealed, making a strange face and dancing around.

Gracia laughed a bit, placing her hand on the side of her face. "Oh dear," she said. "Let me introduce myself, I am Gracia Lane, I am the head baker at this shop here. My mother owns the place but she can't bake anything so I do it all myself."

"Nice to meet you," he said, smiling and nodding to her. "I am Edward Elric; I just entered the college here."

"Happy to meet you as well. Please, follow me." She led him into the bakery while Maes was dance around outside the shop.

Ed followed her into the small shop, his jaw dropped when he saw all of the different kinds of pies and cakes that stood inside the glass case by the register. He had no idea that there were more than just two or three kinds of pies and cakes out there. His mind yelled at him for staring and not paying attention to Gracia but he couldn't help it, he just wanted to taste a piece.

"You shouldn't let your mouth hang open like that, someone might take it as an invitation," he heard someone near him said, startling him from his thoughts.

Ed closed his mouth faster than he knew he could and stood up yell at the person who had said that little comment. "What are you saying!?" He yelled, turning to look at the man beside him. When he saw that it was Roy, Havoc's friend standing there, he shook his head and turned back to Gracia.

Roy chuckled and walked behind him to where Gracia was cutting a piece of pie for Ed. "Good morning, Gracia."

"Hello, Roy, how are you today?" She said, smiling sweetly at him while the placed the pie slice on a plate with a fork. "Shouldn't you be in class soon?"

"I am great, thank you and yeah I should probably head to class now but it's just the finals before break," he said, shrugging. "I was coming to get Maes but he seems to be occupied with dancing right now."

Gracia chuckled, taking the plate and walking passed Roy. "Edward," she called, getting his attention. When he looked over at her, she continued. "Here's a piece of my apple pie, this one Maes likes the best."

He took the plate and smiled at her before taking the first bite of the pie. "Wow! This really is the best pie I have ever had," he said, taking another bite. "Hate to say it but this is better than my mom's."

"I'm sure your mother makes great pies," she said, smiling though. She was happy that she found someone else to enjoy her pies as well, not that half of Central was always in the shop wanting some. She was rather happy when she could meet her boyfriend's friends and have them like her pie. "Are you a friend of Roy and Maes?"

"Sort of," he replied, before taking another bite. "I've known Jean longer than these two; I just met them a few weeks ago when I was finishing my application to the college."

"I see, well don't let them corrupt you too much, we need at least one more sane person in this bunch," she said, glancing at Roy who was ogling over the deserts in the freezer then at Maes who was now dancing around the shop. "I think it's time for you boys to go off to school now, Maes."

Maes stopped and turned to look at her. "You are always right, my dear," he said, smiling and placing a peck on her cheek before grabbing Roy by the back of the shirt and pulling him out of the shop. "Don't fatten him up too much, Gracia, your pies are addictive."

Ed nearly choked on a piece of pie, laughing when he heard what Maes had yelled and watching him dragging Roy away. He could feel Gracia patting him on the back as he swallowed what he had in his mouth so he could breath right.

"Thanks," he said, sighing, still looking at the door. "Those two are crazy."

"You haven't seen the last of it, I assure you," she said, taking away his empty place and going into the back room put it in the sink. When she returned from the kitchen, she had a rag in her hand she began to clean up where she had had the pie out. "What are your plans for today, Ed?"

Putting his hands in his pockets again, he turned to look at her. "Don't really know, I don't start work at the mechanics for another 5 hours so I was just planning on walking around a bit. Maybe take a look at the campus."

"I would take someone with you, if you are going to look at the campus," she said, not breaking from her cleaning. "It's huge and you can get lost easily until you know your way around the area."

"Maybe I'll do that tomorrow, I don't work," he replied, moving to look at what was in the freezer that had Roy's attention so much. "How much do you know the guys?"

She paused for a moment and thought. "Well, Maes and I have been together since we were little kids, so him I know the best. I met Roy when the two were about 15. He was so sweet when he was younger then he reached puberty and I swear he became so wild," she laughed at the thought. "I never saw a boy into so many things at once until I saw him at his junior prom. There were so many pretty people there, boys and girls both."

"Both? You mean he's…" He said in surprise.

"Bi-sexual?"

He nodded, unable to really contemplate the idea. When he had first met him the guys had warned him about him being a player but he never gave it much thought but now he knew why Jean had told him that.

"I was surprised too but with him, I'd be careful," she said, wiping the rag along the glass case.

"Yeah, that's what Jean told me when I first met him," he said, scratching the back of his head. "I didn't really get that until now, though, but why warn me?"

She turned around and looked at him with a grin on her face. "You are very attractive, Ed," she said, causing a blush to creep onto Ed's face. "Which is something that attracts to Roy especially that blond hair of yours."

He turned his face away, afraid that the blush was still there. "I'll keep that in mind," he said, rubbing his face.

"No need to be embarrassed, Ed," she chuckled, going back to her cleaning. "He has that effect on a lot of people when they first learn of what he likes. Anyway, Jean I met a short while after I met Roy, always a sucker for the pretty ladies and Roy always stole them away. I was a bit surprised to learn that Roy hadn't stolen Melissa away when Jean first mentioned her but I guess Roy must've found someone more interesting to look at." She sighed, glancing up at Ed, who now stood by the window. "Breda I met not too long ago, not really sure what to think about him though."

Ed chuckled. "Thanks."

"No problem," she said. "Oh yeah, I don't know if Maes has mentioned it yet or not, but the guys are going out next Friday for a Roy's birthday party. I'm sure he'll invite you along but if he doesn't mention it soon, I'd ask him. He's always forgetting stuff like that and I bet Roy would like to have you there."

"His birthday?"

"Yup, its next Wednesday I think but most of the guys have to work," she replied, finishing up with the glass case. "Are you wondering what you should get him?"

He nodded.

"I wouldn't worry about," she said, walking up to him and tweaking his nose, surprising him. "I'm sure he will be just happy with you being there. Now, get going or you might be late for work."

Glancing up at the clock on the wall above the register, he swore to himself. He hadn't realized he had spent such a long time in the bakery.

"Thanks, Gracia," he said, moving toward the door to leave. "The pie was great and thanks for the stories about the guys! I'll come by later and buy one of the pies."

She laughed as she watched him leave the bakery and head down the street toward the mechanics.

Ed raced down the street, determined not to be anywhere near late for his first day of work. The thoughts of the day were whirling around in his head, confusing him and surprising him both. He hadn't really expected to learn so much about the guys in a just a little bit talking to Gracia and he was sure that there was much more to learn from them once he got the chance. When he reached the mechanics shop, his new boss was standing outside putting the trash out into the small garbage bin. He followed the man into the shop, trying his hardest to concentrate on everything the man was saying to him. One thought kept getting his minds focus, one thought that he wished he could forget until later when he alone so he could really think.

_Roy…_

A new life, a new job and new friends, an adventure he was taking on and he was worried that he might just end up going crazy because of it. Shaking his head, he focused on everything that was being shown to him. Tomorrow was another day and a good day he hoped it would be.

**AN: This is chapter 2…. Sorry not much on the RoyEd storyline in this one but I figured it might be a good thing to introduce the ever loved Gracia into the story. Really not when they all met but this is my version and don't know when their bdays are either. Oh well, I get to pick them now haha. Please Review and tell me what you think!! It'll get better I promise ^_^**


	3. Drunk?

**Thanks to **iloveme5895**, **, neenabluegirl and Gabryell-P- for reviewing! Hope you enjoy this chapter and review more!!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own FMA… sad for me lol

**Title: **A New College Life

**Pairing: **Roy x Ed

**Summary: **Ed leaves his family in Resembol to enter a college in Central City where he learns to become a science major. While in Central City he meets his new friends and starts something new. Unfortunately, with new friends comes new feelings and some things are sometimes best hidden from families.

**Info: **AU. Ed has real limbs. Everyone in here is in their twenty's for ages. Trisha is still alive in this story and their dad left when they were younger.

Part 3

The first day of his new job had left him worn out, not to mention the amount of information he processed about his news friends along with everything he had to learn about the job. Throwing his keys onto the kitchen table, he moved over to the couch and fell face first onto the soft cushions. He reached behind his head and pulled the band that held his hair back, letting it fall down around his head. Running his hand through his hair, he could feel the sweat that he had worked up during the day just sticking to his hair. When he stood up he threw his jacket onto the floor before heading into the bathroom to take a shower, lord knows he felt like he needed one desperately. As he walked down the hall to the bathroom, he glanced at the clock on the wall.

9:43 p.m.

"Oh geez, Al is going to kill me," he said to himself before stepping into the bathroom. "I didn't still have to call him tonight."

The warm shower water fell down from the showerhead onto Ed's own, rinsing the sweat from his hair. Ed enjoyed the feeling of the water falling against his body, soothing the aching muscles in his arms. Lathering his hair with shampoo, he washed his air then proceeded to finish his shower. When he stepped out of the shower, a shiver ran down his spine as the cool apartment air hit his wet body. He grabbed the towel off of the sink and wrapped it around his wait while using another to rough it through his hair. A frown covered his face as he moved out of the shower to change into his nightclothes. With his hair still wet, he moved over to the phone to call his brother.

Holding the phone up to his ear, he heard the ringing on the other end before someone finally picked up.

**Elric residence**, he heard his brother say on the other end.

"Hey, bro," Ed said as he ran a comb through his hair. "Sorry I called so late, I just got home from work a bit ago."

**A job? **

"Yeah, at a mechanics shop not too far from here," he replied. "Don't tell Winry, she'll go nuts."

He heard his brother laugh on the other end. **I promise not to tell her, **Al said. **Mom and I were going through some of the old pictures of our vacations and found some really goofy ones of you.**

Ed cringed. "Please tell me you burned them," he blanched, setting the comb down to move to sit on the couch. "How are you and mom doing?"

**We are okay. Mom worries a lot about you but I've been working with Winry to teach her how to cook better, **Al said, chuckling. **She's scary when she cooks.**

Ed laughed. "I bet she is. Listen, I don't know how often I'll be able to call now that I have a job but I'll do my best, okay?"

**Okay, I'll let mom know.**

Before Ed could reply, he heard a knock at his door. "Hey, bro, I gotta go, someone's here."

**I'll talk to you later.**

"Yeah, tell mom I love her," Ed said, getting off the couch and hanging up the phone. When he reached the door, the knocking continued again until he opened the door. The person on the other side of the door was someone he didn't really expect to see at all.

"Roy?"

"Hey, Ed," the dark-haired man said, smiling slightly.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, moving aside to let him in. "It's late."

"Ed, it's just after ten, it's not late," he complained, placing a glass bottle onto the kitchen table before shrugging off his jacket.

Sighing, he closed the door and moved over to see what the glass bottle on his table was. _Vodka? What the hell is he doing with Vodka?_

"You didn't answer my question?" He said, placing the bottle back onto the table.

"Well," Roy started, plopping down on the couch and glancing over at the blonde. "You look good with your hair down."

"Still not answering," Ed replied as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at the other man. "And thanks."

"Honestly, I was bored and lonely," was the reply. "Jean is out with Melissa, Maes is with Gracia and its Friday."

"You don't like to be alone on Friday nights?"

"Who does?" Roy said with a grin as he got off the couch to move over to the table. "Let's drink."

"I don't think so," Ed said, waving his hands in front of him.

After about twenty minutes of prodding, Roy had managed to get two drinks into Ed's system. They both sat on the couch, laughing and making crazy faces at the weirdest things. Who would have thought that you could get drunk over such a little bit of alcohol? Well, Ed had never drunk before in his life and his mother would kill him if she found out what he was doing now. Placing his empty glass on his coffee table, Ed tried to push himself off of the couch but found himself pulled back down onto the couch.

"Roy, what are you doing?" Ed said, feeling the older guy's hand on his wrist. "Let go, I gotta use the bathroom."

Nearly twenty minutes went by before Ed managed to wrestle himself from Roy's grasp and into the bathroom. Splashing water on his face, Ed tried to get rid of the weird feeling in his head. He didn't really know what had possessed him to take the first drink that the man had given to him but when he downed the first one he couldn't really refuse the second one. The real reason of why Roy was there in his apartment still eluded him, though. This would only be the second time that they hung out. Sighing, he opened the door of the bathroom and was shocked at the vision he was presented with.

Roy stood outside the bathroom door, now only donned with a pair of pants and the bottle of vodka in his hand. There was a sloppy grin on the man's face. Ed watched the man take a swig out of the bottle before he found himself pulled into the hall and into a tight embrace.

"Roy? What are you doing?" He asked, completely surprised by the actions. "Are you okay?"

Ed felt the man's legs give way causing him to wrap his arms around him and try to help him stand. _Who would have thought he'd be so heavy, _he thought to himself as he felt himself slipping down to the floor with Roy. Soon enough he found himself leaning against the wall behind him with Roy leaning against him, still taking swigs from the vodka bottle.

"You're so cute," Roy slurred, placing his empty hand on the wall beside Ed's head. Another swig.

"I think you should give me that bottle," Ed said before reaching up to grab the bottle.

Quicker than he thought, Roy moved the bottle out of Ed's reach, keeping it for himself.

"You want more?" Roy asked, bringing his face closer to Ed's. "I can give you more."

"I really don't think that is necessary."

Before Ed could do anything about it, Roy's lips were on his, shocking him completely. Ed's golden eyes opened to nearly twice their size at the feeling of the man's lips on his. He really hadn't expected to come home from work that night get half-drunk and then kiss a guy. Reaching up, he moved to push the man away but was surprised when Roy's head fell to the side and a quiet snore erupted from the man's lips. Without thinking, Ed knocked his head back against the wall behind him.

"Come on," he said, somehow managing to get the bigger man into his feet and into his bedroom. "You can sleep here tonight and hopefully you won't remember any of this in the morning."

Ed laid the man on the bed then draped a blanket over him. He stood at the side of the bed, staring down at the strange man. _This is going to be a strange friendship, _Ed thought to himself, grabbing the bottle of vodka out of Roy's hands. _Nothing is normal now. Not that it was before but still… _He then left the room, closing the door behind him and making his way to the couch. Throwing himself down on the soft surface, he took a huge gulp of the rancid liquid before closing his eyes and willing himself to sleep.

Hours passed without interruption in his sleep. His dreams went on by quietly until the annoying sound of his cell phone jerked him out of his sleep. Reaching out, Ed laid his left hand on the coffee table until his hand reached his phone.

"Hello?" He answered his voice still full of sleep and alcohol.

**Ed? Is Roy over there?** Maes' voice sounded on the other end. **It's nearly ten in the morning.**

"Ten?!" Ed yelled, sitting up quickly and regretting it just as fast. "Why the hell is it ten in the morning?"

**Time flies, kid, **the man on the other end replied. **Is he there?**

"Yeah, I think he's still here," he said, rubbing his head. "Is something wrong?"

**Only the fact that his last final for the spring course is in thirty minutes.**

"What?" Ed stood up from the couch, moved over to his bedroom door and opened it. "Roy, wake up!" He yelled, pulling the blankets off the sleeping man. No reaction. "He's probably hung over, Maes."

**What the heck happened last night?**

"He came over with a bottle of Vodka last night," Ed replied, going into the bathroom to grab a glass of water. "He drank himself to sleep as did I but I think he is worse off."

**Oh dear.**

Ed turned the glass of cold water upside down, dumping the contents onto Roy's head. This little action earned him a few screams and a couple of swear words before he was greeted with a small morning smile.

"You, my friend," Ed said, shaking his head while looking at Roy, "are a strange person. Maes, I'll make sure he gets to class on time."

**Thanks, Edo, sorry to have bothered you, **Maes laughed on the other end. **Don't let him give you too much trouble.**

With that, Ed heard the man on the other end hang up. Sighing, Ed turned to leave to return the glass back in the bathroom. From inside the bathroom, Ed could hear Roy moving around in the bedroom, probably trying to figure out where he was at. He turned around and walked back into his bedroom, where he found Roy sitting on the side of the bed with his head in his hands.

"Rough night?" Ed asked fully expecting to have things thrown at him but what he got was a small smile caressing Roy's lips. "I… uh… guess not." He scratched the back of his head, moving over to his closet to get out some clothes. "Maes called and said you have a final in about a half hour, you really should be getting ready."

"Yeah," was the quiet response.

"Aren't you worried about being late?" Ed asked, pulling on a shirt and trying to be as casual as he could be despite the images that were running through his head. "You still have to go back and change before you go."

"I'll be fine," Roy responded as he got up from his seat on the bed. "Where's the vodka?"

"You aren't drinking any more before you go to that final," the blonde said, slightly surprising himself with the straightforwardness of his statement.

"I wasn't going to drink any, Edo-kun," the dark haired man replied, now close to where Ed was standing himself.

_This is Roy, he's a player be careful, _Ed's mind warned him with Jean's words. He shook his head and moved toward his bedroom door.

"Just get dressed and I'll walk you to class, I have to go out for a bit anyway," Ed said, not looking at him.

The rest of the morning went on like any normal morning, well normal enough. The two had a strange argument about whether Ed should leave his hair down or pull it back out of his face. An argument to which Roy nearly won when he managed to tackle Ed onto the ground and stole his hair band away. This led Ed to chasing the man out of his apartment, down the stairs and into the streets before Ed finally caught up with him and got his hair band back. A blush covered Ed's face when he finally recovered the tie and pulled his hair back. The grin on Roy's face was making him angry, the way he was playing around when he had to get to the college. After the older one stuck his tongue out at Ed, this began another chase scene. This morning turned out to be nothing like what he imagined the morning to turn out like. Instead he spent the morning chasing the crazy playboy around the city trying to get him to go to class.

College life… A new adventure Ed was really worried about taking now. _This man is going to be the death of me, _Ed thought as he shoved the man onto the college campus before bidding him goodbye and leaving for his errands.

**AN: This is chapter 3…. Here's a bit of RoyxEd in here for ya, not the best chapter but yeah. I will try to get another chapter up by the end of the week. Please review!!!**


	4. New Situation

**llThanks to **everyone for reviewing for reviewing! I love you all and your reviews make writing and posting each chapter worth all the effort ^_^ Hope you enjoy this chapter and review more!!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own FMA… sad for me lol

**Title: **A New College Life

**Pairing: **Roy x Ed

**Summary: **Ed leaves his family in Resembol to enter a college in Central City where he learns to become a science major. While in Central City he meets his new friends and starts something new. Unfortunately, with new friends comes new feelings and some things are sometimes best hidden from families.

**Info: **AU. Ed has real limbs. Everyone in here is in their twenty's for ages. Trisha is still alive in this story and their dad left when they were younger.

Part 4

Ed stood over the open hood of an engine, his hair tied back away from his face and the radio blasting away beside him. It was Monday morning and he had no heard anything from Roy or Maes about the ordeal the other night. He told himself that he wasn't worried or hung up on the fact that Roy had kissed him, but something made him not believe even himself. Nearly the entire weekend after they had parted ways for Roy to take his exam, he had spent trying to convince himself that it was just the alcohol talking that night. Though he couldn't quite hide the fact that whenever he thought about the kiss a blush would rise to his face and his stomach would feel weird. He had berated himself for acting like a love-sick puppy when he would feel that way but his mother had always told him to trust his feelings and go by what his heart told him. Sappy, he knew that but his mother was always the sweet one even after everything that she had gone through.

Sighing, he rubbed his grease covered hand across his forward, leaving a grease trail on his skin while he did so. He really didn't know what to make of the whole drunken Roy and the fact that he had allowed the man to get him drunk as well. It was true that he liked hanging out with the man and found him interesting enough but to spend the night drinking with him now seemed a bit much. Can't change the past, he would tell himself when he thought about it. Now he had to figure a way out to continue focusing on his work without an image or thought of Roy or the kiss entering his brain.

Easier said than done in most cases.

Just as he had begun to push the thoughts out of his mind and focus on the engine in front of him, the music on the radio stopped. Swearing, Ed stood up straight and walked around the truck toward where he had the radio sitting. When he made it around the side of the truck, he stopped dead in his tracks and dropped the wrench that he was holding in his hands.

"Roy?"

There not four feet in front of Ed stood Roy, the one person he was trying to get out of his head. Though doesn't something like this always happen when you don't want to think of something? Ed throat felt dry, he didn't know what to say and frankly, he felt like an idiot standing there staring at the man.

"Didn't I tell you that you look better with your hair down?" Roy asked his voice soft and comforting in an odd type of way.

"I have to have it up for work," Ed said, quietly as he stared at Roy.

Nodding, Roy slowly walked up to where Ed was standing and smiled at him. "A job that gets you dirty," he said, taking his hand and wiping his finger across Ed's forehead. "I like it."

A blush crossed Ed's cheeks, bringing back to reality and sending him running back around the truck to find a rag. He knew he probably looked like an idiot and the reason wouldn't be for having grease on his forehead. When he made it back around to the front of the truck, he found that nearly every rag he had there was covered in some type of grease or oil.

_Geez, good going, Ed, _his mind yelled at him. _He probably thinks you are weirder now._

Ed sighed. Defeated in the fact that his mind was probably right and it really shouldn't matter if his forehead was covered in grease now that Roy probably thought that he was weird now.

"You know," Roy said, walking around the truck to find Ed deep in thought. "It's kind of sexy the way you blush whenever I say something."

Blush grows a darker shade of red. Ed stood with his back to the man for a bit before turning back to the engine and started to work on it again. He tried so hard to pretend that the man beside the truck wasn't there and that he was alone so he could concentrate but the man's eyes. Those dark eyes kept staring at him, seeming to drill right into his body.

"Do you need something?" Ed asked, finally, his voice a bit shaky with sudden nervousness.

"Just bored today and figured I would come to visit," Roy replied, smoothly, a smirk showing up on his face. "Seems like I have made quite the impression on you."

"Impression?" The blond asked, making the mistake of taking his eyes off the engine and looking into Roy's. His eyes took a hold of Ed's, not wanting to let go.

"Yeah," Roy whispered, leaning closer to Ed's face. "I think it went something like this." Closing the last little bit, Roy brought his lips down on Ed's, surprising the blond for the second time.

Ed was extremely grateful that he had closed the gate that day on the garage. He really wasn't expecting to show up for work that day only to end up kissing one of his friends on that same day. Though, this time he was doubly surprised compared to the last kiss he received. The last time the man had kissed him, he had been drunk and he could taste alcohol in the kiss and just passed the occurrence off but now the man was sober. He could taste Roy in the kiss, the taste of his lips and the sweat of the man. A small gasp escaped from his lips when Roy finally backed off and looked down at him.

"Surprised?" Roy asked his voice low and his face still close to Ed's. "I rather like that look on you."

Ed opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted when Roy's cell phone began to ring. He heard the man groan when he moved back further away from Ed to answer his phone.

"Roy here."

Watching the man, Ed knew who was on the other end of the phone and he could swear that he could just about hear what Maes was saying.

"Dinner but Maes I don't have anyone to go with…." Roy was saying when he stopped and looked at Ed, who was scared at that moment. "Never mind, I'll be there. What time?"

_Oh dear god, _was Ed's thought at that moment. _This cannot be good. _

Roy hung up the phone and walked up back to stand in front of Ed. "Maes wants me to go to dinner with him and Gracia tonight," he said, staring into Ed's golden orbs. "You'll come me, yes?"

Doomed by those eyes, Ed couldn't do more than just nod to the man. His thoughts were racing at the speed of light and he could barely register what they even were let alone pick out the right one to follow.

"Good." The dark-haired man leaned down, kissing Ed again but this time on a clean spot of Ed's cheek. "I'll pick you up at your place around 7."

With that, Ed watched as the man left the garage. His knees decided to give way at that moment, sending Ed fall down onto his butt though his mind barely registered the motion. _What have I just done? _He thought to himself as he tried to get a grip on what had just happened. _I just accepted to go to dinner with him. I'm an idiot._

Hours later, Ed found himself standing in front of his mirror in his bathroom. Why was he staring at himself? Well he was nervous for the most part and he really had no idea what he was doing. Dinner with Roy. Dinner. Slapping himself on this forehead, he turned away from the mirror and moved himself into his bedroom. Roy didn't tell him where they were going for dinner so he really had no idea what to wear. _Geez, now I really do sound like a girl, _Ed thought as he moved to the dresser to find a pair of his good jeans. As he slipped on his good jeans, he glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearing seven.

"Calm down, Ed," he said to himself as he pulled a good shirt out of the closet and slid it on over his head. "It's not like it's a date or anything."

A knocked at the door startled him out of his thoughts. _Oh no, _he thought, just staring at the door for a moment before actually moving over to answer it. When he opened the door, he was greeted with a warm smile and small surprising peck on the cheek.

"You clean up nice," Roy said, smiling down at Ed.

Nervousness setting in again, Ed nodded and let the man in. He really wasn't good with these types of situations, especially when it came to having this situation with a guy.

"Leaving your hair down?"

"I can't," Ed replied, closing the door and moving to pick up a comb that was sitting on the counter. "It would be weird."

"I don't think so," Roy said, his voice too close again. "You look good with your hair down."

"Roy…"

"Yeah?"

"Could you not stand so close?" Ed asked with nervousness laced through his voice. He didn't really want to sound so nervous despite the way his voice and body were acting. "I don't really know what to do."

Roy smiled, taking a step back away from the younger. "It's okay," he replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I'll try not to get too close all of the time."

"No," Ed said suddenly, turning around to face Roy. "I don't mean that it's bad or anything like that. I just, never been in a situation like this before."

"Oh? No girlfriends back in your hometown?"

Shaking his head, Ed picked up the brush and pulled it through his hair, trying to get rid of some of the nervousness he felt.

"I see. So that kiss was…"

"My first."

"Fuck." Roy sighed, turning his head away.

Ed stopped brushing his hair and turned to look at him. He didn't know what to say; truthfully he didn't know what he should say so he said that first thing that came to his mind.

"It was a good kiss," he said, his mind yelling at him when he finished his sentence. _Idiot._

"Oh really?" Roy asked, seeming to regain his confidence a bit. He neared Ed again, smirking as the younger backed up into the counter. "I like that reply."

"Roy…" Ed gulped.

"Yeah?"

"Your… uh… phone is ringing."

"God dammit," Roy swore as he turned away to answer his phone.

_Saved again by his phone, _Ed sighed, moving to finish pulling his hair back into a single pony-tail.

"Yeah, we won't be late," he heard Roy saying to what he figured was Maes again. "I promise."

"Problems?" Ed asked when Roy stuff his phone back into his pocket.

"Not anymore," was the reply. "Let's go before he decides to slice me head off my shoulders."

Ed grabbed his jacket off the back of the couch and shrugged it on before grabbing his keys off the counter and following Roy out of the apartment. He followed the man down the hallway quietly before jogging a bit to catch up to him.

"Does he know that it's me you are taking to dinner?"

"Not really." Roy said, smiling down at Ed. "I figured he would know anyway. Both him and Gracia are quite harmless when they are apart but when you get them together, evil is conjured."

Ed laughed at that.

"It would be a safe bet that either one of them have figured it out," Roy continued as they waited in front of the elevator. "And that one probably explained it to the other to try to get some plot figured out. Though, in my group of friends my expertise is flirting and Maes is information and secrets."

"Flirting?"

"Yeah, much like what you do when you stare at me with those eyes," the taller man commented without looking at Ed. "Like right now."

Ed blushed and turned away. _Get it together, Ed, you don't know what is going to happen with this guy. _He wished that his mind would just shut up sometimes and leave him alone.

"Ed, the elevator is here," Roy said, waving his hand in front of Ed's face.

"Oh, right."

"I can sense that you are a bit nervous."

"Never done anything like this before," Ed replied as he started to play with the zipper on his jacket. "I was always too busy with studies to worry about anything else really."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time for studies when you start school. Let's just worry about the other things now, okay?" Roy asked, sending the blond a smile. "Come on."

Ed felt the man grab his hand and pull him from the elevator as the doors opened. He didn't feel him let go, he didn't notice the stares of the gardeners outside the building and he certainly didn't feel the blush that had risen to his face in the process. His mind was full of Roy.

_What the hell have I just gotten myself into? …_

_TBC…_

**AN: **Sorry this one took so long to come out but this was incredibly hard to write. Three different chapters were put here and finally this came out. I apologize for the lateness of this chapter!! I promise I will get them out quicker, though I do have a convention coming up that will put a delay in it.

Next up: Dinner with Maes and Gracia ^_^


	5. Yes or no?

**Thanks to **everyone for reviewing for reviewing! I love you all and your reviews make writing and posting each chapter worth all the effort ^_^ Hope you enjoy this chapter and review more!!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own FMA… sad for me lol

**Title: **A New College Life

**Pairing: **Roy x Ed

**Summary: **Ed leaves his family in Resembol to enter a college in Central City where he learns to become a science major. While in Central City he meets his new friends and starts something new. Unfortunately, with new friends comes new feelings and some things are sometimes best hidden from families.

**Info: **AU. Ed has real limbs. Everyone in here is in their twenty's for ages. Trisha is still alive in this story and their dad left when they were younger.

Part 5

Dinner was strange to say the least. It had started off perfectly normal, Maes grinning at Roy when the two showed up and Gracia smiling sweetly at Ed. Roy was right, they both knew that Roy was going to bring Ed along to dinner. Apparently, the only one who didn't know of any sudden change in the flirt's mind was Jean. Their table at the restaurant was set in the back by where the private tables were kept. When the waiter had seated them there, Ed had begun to feel a bit underdressed for the place of choice even though Gracia had assured him that he looked good in his outfit. The dinner conversation started at school exams, both Roy and Maes complaining how tough the exams were compared to the courses actually were. This earned them a laugh from both Gracia and Ed.

"Hey," Maes started, pointing at Ed. "Just you wait, buddy, you'll be taking the finals at the end of next semester just like me and Roy. You'll see how tough those things are. Makes you want to pull out your own hair."

Ed chuckled. "I bet but I don't think I'll have as much trouble as you, Maes."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The other asked, giving him a strange look.

"I don't have a girlfriend who I worry over all the time," Ed replied, sticking his tongue out at the man. "You know I am right."

"Well she is just so pretty," was the reply. The man had relented his argument to coo over his girlfriend who sat beside him.

Roy laughed. "You are right, Ed, you don't. Though neither do I and I think I did pretty badly on the exams."

"You just need to study more," Ed stated as he took a sit of the water that was sitting on the table. "Jean told me about your study habits."

"Oh? And what did he have to say about them?"

Ed glanced at Maes and Gracia before looking over at Roy. "Just that your study sessions were more like make out sessions," he said, trying to keep his eyes from looking at Roy's.

Chuckling, Roy rubbed his hands over his face. "Oh I wish but that's one thing that he has wrong."

"Huh?"

"I need to study for these things," Roy said. "I'm not a genius like some people nor do I seem to pick up stuff like Jean or Maes. I only tell Jean that so that I can drive him crazy, it's a perk in our friendship."

"That's a weird perk to have," Maes suddenly burst into the conversation. "Besides the food is here."

At that moment, their dinner conversation switched from harmless fun like talking about the exams to Maes talking about anything and everything that involved Gracia. He really did love that woman and it made Ed jealous. When he watched them together, he ached for a relationship that close. They were two people that were compatible with each other completely. There seemed to be nothing that could pull the two apart from their love and it made Ed want that even more. Granted he had absolutely no experience with relationships and he would probably end up messing the first one up completely, he wanted to try. Sighing, he took a drink of his water, hoping that no one else had heard the sigh.

"You know," Roy whispered to him. "Sighing is a very bad thing."

"What are you talking about?" Ed asked, hoping to pass the whole thing off.

"That sigh, you've been watching those two all night," the man replied, nodding to the two across the table. "Their love will drive any person nuts if they pay too much attention to them. When Maes gets like this, Gracia is the only one who can snap him out of it, though I think she likes the attention."

"Nuts is a nice term for it."

Chuckling, Roy leaned back against his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "I've known that man since we have been kids and this is the only time I've seen him focus on something this deeply. I call it obsession but he calls it love. Makes you wonder if it's like this for everyone."

Ed thought for a bit, glancing between Roy and the pair across the table. He shoved a piece of his chicken into his mouth before leaning back as well. "I think that it would be different for everyone," he replied with his eyes fixed on the plate of food in front of him. "Not everyone is going to react the same way when things happen."

"Much like with you and me."

"Exactly," Ed stated now looking up at Roy. "I don't know anything about relationships."

He watched as Roy turned in his slightly and leaned his elbow on the table. "I'll show you."

_I'll show you. _Those words rang through Ed's head, confusing him. He didn't know what to say or what to do. This man, across from him, wanted to show him what it was like to be in a relationship but did Ed truly want this. His mind was racing with thoughts but he wanted just one. What was his heart telling him about the situation that was playing out in reality at that moment?

"Whatever you want to know," Roy continued, not noticing the plight in Ed's mind.

"Okay." Ed said, nodding but not taking his eyes off of Roy.

A smiled crossed Roy's face; he looked like he could be the happiest man in the world at that moment. He turned to face the table and finish his meal, the smile never leaving his face.

Ed did the same. _You just agreed to be this guy's boyfriend practically, _his mind yelled at him. Was he? He didn't know, he had just agreed to let Roy show him what it was like to be in a relationship. Truthfully, he didn't know the situation he had just thrust himself into at that moment.

To Roy and Ed, the other two at the table seemed to be too focused on each other to have witnessed the little exchange that had happened but little did they know, that Gracia and Maes had planned for something like this to happen. They knew the signs that the two showed when they were together and though neither Gracia nor Maes knew Ed that well, they had guessed about what he would do and guessed right. Maes had always thought that Roy needed someone besides the women he usually dated and knew that Roy could lean to either side when it came to dating someone. Maybe this young man that Jean had befriended would help Roy out in the long run.

Dinner came to a close with some sanity left in the young man after Maes had finished bragging about the last vacation that he and Gracia had spent together along with a full photo montage to go along with the story. After a short farewell, Roy ushered Ed to his car so that he could escort the young man home. The ride was quiet, Ed's nervousness from earlier had lessoned a bit since the beginning but he still felt a bit uneasy. He wasn't really quite sure what Roy had meant exactly when he said that he would show him what it was like to be in a relationship. Even so, he was willing to try this with him. His non-existent experience really made him nervous when it came to the entire relationship business. He had hoped that no one would find out about him never dating or doing anything of the like.

"Ed."

"Yeah?" He asked, turning to look at Roy.

"We're here," Roy said as he shut off the car and placed his keys in his pocket.

"Oh, yeah," Ed stumbled over his words, realizing that he had been spacing out. "Sorry 'bout that." Ed pushed the door open and stepped out, only to find himself not home where he had originally thought that Roy was taking him. "Where are we?"

"It's the park, Edo," Roy teased, smiling at him. "This is where I go when it's nice out."

Ed followed the man as he walked further into the park. This wasn't like the parks that he remember seeing in Central, he figured that he had brought him outside the city somewhere. The sky was darkened slightly, except with the flow of the starts and the half-moon that shown above.

"Roy," he started, unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry for bringing you out here without you knowing," Roy said, turning about to face Ed. "But I thought that you might like to see a grand view." He moved to the side and at first Ed didn't see anything besides trees and branches.

Then Ed looked passed the two beat up trees that stood behind where Roy was standing and there in the clearing, little lights danced in the moonlight. He hadn't seen fireflies since he was a child and even then he had never seen them dance like they were. They danced beautifully against the dark backdrop of night. Ed stepped closer to the area between the trees, enchanted by the dance of the fireflies. A smile crept onto his lips as he watched them fly in the sky, swirling around in the wind and then fly off into the night beyond where he could see them.

"Nice wasn't it," Roy asked from behind Ed, he had moved there to watch the fireflies as well.

"Yeah, it was." The small blond replied, not realizing how close Roy had become to him. "Do they always come here at night?"

"Most nights."

Ed turned around and found himself with his face right in Roy's chest, startling him a bit.

"Oh, sorry," Roy said, stepping back. "I was watching the fireflies."

"It's okay," he whispered as he glanced away. "I just didn't realize you were that close."

Roy smiled at him. He could always entice a jump or a blush out of the younger and it made him smile every time. Watching the now blushing blond, Roy noticed that he had begun to shiver.

"Damn, despite it being warmer weather in the daytime," Roy said, moving to stand behind Ed and wrap his arms around his shoulders. "The nights are sure cold."

A blush crept over Ed's face, it wasn't that he didn't like the feel of Roy's arms around him; in fact it was quite warm to have the older man standing behind him like such. Be it hesitantly, Ed leaned his head back against the man's chest and brought his hands up to cover his arms. After a bit, he became relaxed in his arms, listening to his breathing and the quiet hum of his heartbeat. When a gust of wind blew passed him, he instinctively pushed back which earned him a squeeze and a chuckle from the man behind him.

"Come on, let me take you home for real this time," Roy said, pulling back away from Ed.

Ed nodded, sad by the fact that he had moved. He turned and started toward the car but was surprised when Roy grabbed his hand and turned him around.

"Edward," Roy whispered, slipping his fingers under his chin and tilted Ed's face to look up at him. "You are beautiful." He leaned down closer and captured Ed's lips with his; it was sweet kiss beneath the star filled sky that didn't last long.

Ed stared up into Roy's eyes, a smile caressing his lips. With that, Roy turned to walk to the car, not letting go of Ed's hand. The smile on Ed's face grew in size as he squeezed back. Despite this all being new to him, he was going to try his best at this relationship. He didn't want to ruin the friendship that he already had with him and he wasn't really sure how this romance would progress for him. When he felt the hand leave his, he shook his head and looked up to find Roy standing by his door with it held open.

"You don't have to do that," Ed mumbled as he made a move to get into the car.

"Sure I do," Roy replied, grinning down at him. "I get to see that adorable blush."

Ed's jaw dropped. "You are pure evil," he said out loud but it was cut off when Roy smiled and shut the door. Turning to look at where Roy would sit, he waited for the man to enter before sticking his tongue out at him.

Roy chuckled as he stuck the key into the ignition and started the car. "You shouldn't stick your tongue out, Edo, unless you plan on using it."

A quiet growl escaped Ed's lips as Roy sped off down the road toward his apartment building. The little things Roy did and the comments that he said, seemed to always make him blush. He really didn't like to blush but if it made Roy smile; he didn't really want to deny the man that. Besides, he really liked his smile. Ed turned to watch out the window, at the passing lights and cars.

When they arrived at Ed's apartment building, he invited Roy up to his place which of course the dark-haired man agreed. Letting Roy into his place, he followed in behind him. Noticing the grin on Roy's face when he closed the door and turned around, scared him a bit. Ed shook his head and threw his jacket on the back of the couch before plopping himself down. He shook a bit when he felt Roy do the same beside him. Reaching to his right, Ed picked up the remote and turned the television on. Nothing was on but neither cared. Roy had his arm around Ed's shoulders and Ed was leaned against him. It was there that they fell asleep, unaware of the emotions stirring within them.

A new relationship for Ed and a different one for Roy, the future will not be normal for these two anymore.

TBC…..

**AN: **there ya go. Another chapter, out sooner than I had expected and please review!!! I love you all for loving this story and I love this story as well. Now I just have to figure out what happens next. All this and Ed hasn't even started school yet. Yikes!! PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!


	6. Party Plans

**Thanks to **everyone for reviewing for reviewing! I love you all and your reviews make writing and posting each chapter worth all the effort ^_^ Hope you enjoy this chapter and review more!!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own FMA… sad for me lol

**Title: **A New College Life

**Pairing: **Roy x Ed

**Summary: **Ed leaves his family in Resembol to enter a college in Central City where he learns to become a science major. While in Central City he meets his new friends and starts something new. Unfortunately, with new friends comes new feelings and some things are sometimes best hidden from families.

**Info: **AU. Ed has real limbs. Everyone in here is in their twenty's for ages. Trisha is still alive in this story and their dad left when they were younger.

Part 6

The next week went extremely fast for Ed, everything was blur. He spent most of his time at the shop, trying to save up some money for his books for college. It mad him kind of upset with himself that he had spent so much time at the shop that he didn't really have the time or energy to spend any time with Roy or any time to call his brother. Though, everytime he really thought about him a blush would cross his face and he would have to hide himself so his boss wouldn't pick on him about it. He had made a mistake and let it slip one time when his boss had seen the blush and now he wouldn't let up about the whole deal.

Sighing, Ed pushed himself out of his bed as the alarm clock beside his bed went off. _Finally. _He thought to himself. _It's Friday and my day off. _As he made his way to the bathroom to shower he heard his cell go off but decided to let it go for this chance to cleanse himself. Reaching into the shower, he turned the knobs sending water down into the tub. Before stripping his clothing, he turned and looked at himself in the mirror. Above his left eye he traced the line of a deep cut with his hand and mentally smacked himself for allowing himself to get hurt at work. He reached down and pulled his shirt over his head then removed his pants and stepped into the shower. The hot water slid down his body taking the topcover of dirt along with it. This was perhaps one of his favorite things to do during the day, just standing in the shower and letting the water fall over his body. He didn't really know why he enjoyed it so much but he supposed it was because it relaxed him so.

The sound of his phone ringing a second time brought him out of his relaxed state causing him to swear out loud and finish his shower in a rush. Once he was out and dried, he pulled on a pair of boxers then a pair of blue jeans. Pushing the door open, he ran a comb through his hair and made his way out to the kitchen where his phone sat on the counter. By then, the phone had stopped ringing and when he looked at it he saw he had two missed calls. One from his brother and one from Jean.

_What does Jean want? _He thought to himself as he called his voicemail to listen to the two messages.

_Message 1. _**Hey, brother, I haven't heard from you in a while and I just wanted to talk to you since you haven't called in a while. Call me back. Love you.**

_Message 2. _**Edo, this is Jean. We need to go out and get stuff for Roy's birthday party tonight. I'll be over soon.**

Ed stared at his phone. Jean hadn't even bothered to say goodbye before he hung up. _Soon? This could be bad, _he thought to himself as he laid his phone the counter to go back to the bedroom. He at least wanted to be fully dressed before the man showed up to his apartment. Throwing the comb on his bed he opened the top drawer of his dresser and pulled out a red shirt to pull over his head. After he pulled his shirt on, he finished running the comb through his hair when there was a knock on his door.

"Coming!" He yelled, grabbing a pair of socks and his shoes. Before answering the door, he dropped his shoes and socks on the floor in front of the couch. Opening the door, he found Jean and Maes standing on the other side, seemingly arguing about something. "Hey."

Jean turned first to look at Ed, his eyes widening when he saw that Ed hadn't yet pulled his hair back into the pony tail that he always wore. Pushing on Maes' shoulder, he brought the other's attention to the blonde in the doorway. His eyes widened too.

"What are you guys staring at?" Ed didn't even think about the fact that his hair was still down, laying on his shoulders.

"Your hair is down, Edo," Jean spoke first, reaching out and flicking his hair around.

"Oh, yeah," Ed faltered. "Come in."

He turned away and let the other two come in, while he went in search for his hair tie. It didn't occur to him that he forgot to put his hair up before answering the door. No one besides his family had ever seen him with his hair down before. He wasn't really sure if he liked the reaction that he got from the two out in the living room. Grabbing his hair tie off of the bathroom sink, he quickly pulled his hair back before returning to the living room where Jean and Maes had gone back to arguing.

"Guys, stop it already," Ed said as he entered the room and sat down on the couch. "What are you two arguing about anyway?"

"Jean thinks that Gracia shouldn't be allowed to come to the party tonight because he wants it to be guys only," Maes complained, giving Jean a mean look. "I want her to come along because I love her so much."

Ed rolled his eyes as he began to put his shoes on.

"What's wrong with it only be guys?" Jean asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Sorry, Maes, I gotta agree with Jean on this one," was the blonde's reply. "Nothing against Gracia or Melissa, I just think it'll be good for us guys to hang out. Plus, you are nearly always with Gracia when you two aren't at work."

"She will be so lonely," he whispered, shaking his head.

"Come on," Ed stated, grabbing his phone and his keys. "Let's go out so we can get the stuff. Does Roy even know I am coming tonight?"

Jean and Maes looked at each other. Apparently they didn't even think about telling Roy that Ed was gonna be at the party tonight.

"It'll be a surprise," Jean said, smiling.

"You guys are gonna be the death of him one day," Ed sighed, shuffling the two out of his apartment so he could lock the door. "Gracia was the one who told me about the party, if it wasn't for her I wouldn't even have known of this."

"Yeah, Gracia mentioned it to me the other day that she had told you about it," Maes stated, following behind Ed and Jean down the hall. "I think you should leave your hair down tonight, Ed."

"Why?"

"It'll surprise the hell out of Roy," Jean answered for Maes, grinning. "It sure surprised us and you aren't even dating us."

Ed laughed. He still wasn't completely comfortable with how many people knew about him and Roy but they were friends so what could it hurt. His brother didn't even know he was dating someone, let alone a guy. Truthfully, he didn't really know how to bring it up in conversation and break it to them. Al wasn't really the one he was worried about, it was his mom and Winry. Who knows what she would do to him when she finds out.

"I don't know, guys," he said to them as they headed out to the mall. "No one, besides my family, has ever really seen me with my hair down. I look too girly with it down, I think."

"Nah," Jean scoffed. "Think about what Roy would think if he saw you with your hair down!"

"He's already head-over-heels for the boy, Jean, do you want the man to have a heart attack," Maes joked.

"Hey! It was your idea for him to leave his hair down," was the quick reply.

Ed rolled his eyes as the two behind him argued some more about whether he should keep his hair up or not. It sounded like he wasn't getting a choice in the matter either. After walking for about a mile, Ed got sick of hearing the argument behind him and turned around to face the two and nearly got ran over.

"Stop it, already." He said in a huff. "We're out looking for whatever for Roy's birthday so could you two stop the bickering and help me because I don't know him as well as you two."

Jean scratched the back of his head with a look on his face like he just got caught stealing a cookie by his mother.

Maes just chuckled and noddded, drapping his arm around Ed's shoulders and turning his around.

"Now, we need to find a nice liquor store," he began, pointing down the street. "Roy likes his liquor so we should get some for tonight."

"Gracia didn't say anything about drinking!" Ed complained, turning his head to look at Maes while the man was leading the way.

"She didn't know," he replied. "Now, Roy's knows that we are doing this tonight for two reasons. One, because we all had to work on Wednesday and two, so we could drink our asses off."

Sighing, Ed allowed himself to be led to the liquor store. "You guys know I'm not old enough to drink, right?"

Jean laughed and slapped Ed on the back. "Yeah, that's why you'll be over there." He pointed to the movie store. "Picking out something scary for us to watch while Maes and I go into the liquor store and get something for us to drink tonight."

With a little push, Ed found himself on his way to the movie store while his friends went into the liquor store. Sighing, he figured he could at least call his brother while he looked for a movie. If he was going to go back home for a picnic, he might as well call his brother and let him know that he was gonna be there for it. Maybe he could break the news to Al that he was dating someone but then again, if he told him now then he would probably want to meet him and Ed wasn't really sure he was ready for that. Al and Winry could be a strange pair and he didn't want them scaring Roy off, if they knew they were dating. He pushed the door to the movie store open and dialed his home number.

**Ring. Ring.**

After a few rings, Ed heard the receiver pick up and then some yelling on the other end.

**Elric residence.**

"Hey, Al."

**Brother!! Why didn't you answer the phone earlier?**

"Sorry, bro, I was in the shower when you called," he replied as he made his way over to the horror section of the store. "I am out now but I thought I would call you."

**Wow!! Great! I can't wait to see you. It's been a while.**

Ed chuckled. "It's only been a couple of weeks, Al, but I've missed you, too."

**You should come home to visit soon.**

"I can't, Al. I would love to but I am starting school in a little over a month and I won't really have time until the holidays," he explained, picking the first movie off the shelf and read the back. "I still have registration to go through with school and working to save up some money."

**Aww. It's gonna be really hard to be apart from each other for so long.**

"It will be, this is the first time we've been apart for this long," Ed said as he continued to scour the shelves for a good movie for tonight. Why they wanted a horror in particular, he didn't know but he figured it had to have something to do with Roy. "I'll be sure to call you more often, bro, but it's just been a bit hectic around here."

**Hectic? How so?**

_Yikes. _"Um… Just working a lot."

**Really, brother?**

"Yeah, just spending a lot of time down at the garage," he replied. Besides, he wasn't really lying to his brother. He did spend quite a lot of time at the shop compared to at home but now there was Roy.

**You aren't very good at lying, brother.**

"Lying? What?" Ed yelped, trying to hide his nervousness by picking up another movie to look at, not that his brother could see or anything.

**You've been seeing someone, have't you? I can tell, you're all nervous.**

Ed sighed. There was nothing he could hide from his brother. "Brother…"

**Fine, I won't push for an answer but when you finally do come to visit, we wanna meet them, okay?**

"Yeah, of course." _Got out of it for now, _Ed thought to himself. "Hey, I gotta go. Me and the guys are getting ready for a party tonight."

**Okay, have fun and be careful.**

"I will, love you," Ed said and hung up after he heard his brother's farewell. "How the hell am I gonna introduce them to Roy?"

Sighing, he picked up a movie called "The Signs," it looked interesting to him and he figured maybe it would freak at least one of the guys out. After moving to the counter and checking out with the movie, he made his way across the street where he found the guys waiting for him. Once he joined back up with them, they made their way over to Roy's place.

"Tonight is going to be so much fun," Jean exclaimed, slinging his arm around Ed's shoulders.

"It's not everyday someone gets older," Maes added as he led the way down the street.

"I think that this is an excuse just to drink," Ed said, quietly, pushing Jean's arm off his shoulders. He felt short enough without having the man use him as a walking stick.

Both Jean and Maes started laughing. The rest of the walk to Roy's place was mostly filled with the two older guys talking about what they would do tonight when they managed to get Roy drunk. Some pretty scary thoughts whizzed by, if Ed ever heard any. He wasn't really sure what to make of the idea of getting Roy drunk not to mention the fact that they would probably try to get him to drink as well. Sighing, he followed along. It was bound to be an interesting night and he really wasn't sure how everything would end up.

When they finally found themselves outside the door to Roy's place, Maes pulled Ed's hairtie out and quickly threw it away from them before Ed could complain. Jean then rang the doorbell before moving to ruffle Ed's hair a bit. Before Ed could do anything, the door swung open and he found himself face to face with an astonished boyfriend. Needless to say, Roy stared at him for a full ten minutes before he heard the laughing of the others and let them all in.

Yes, it was going to be quite an interesting night indeed.

**AN: ok, so sorry that this one took sooooo long to come out and get updated but I just got back from Otakon the other week and managed to get myself sick so I have been recovering from both. I wrote this up for you guys and I know Ed hasn't gone to school yet but it's coming I promise. I have to do Roy's birthday party and then I'll prolly jump ahead a bit and start Ed in school so I can move on with the story. This is really coming out to be longer than I had expected it to be. Lol. Anyway, please review this and tell me what you think. I'll try my best to get an update up sooner than before. Review!! I love you all for reading and reviewing and favoriting this one!! It makes me happy knowing that you guys love this story as much as I love writing them for you!!! ^_^**


	7. Party Time

**Thanks to **everyone for reviewing for reviewing! I love you all and your reviews make writing and posting each chapter worth all the effort ^_^ Hope you enjoy this chapter and review more!!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own FMA… sad for me lol

**Title: **A New College Life

**Pairing: **Roy x Ed

**Summary: **Ed leaves his family in Resembol to enter a college in Central City where he learns to become a science major. While in Central City he meets his new friends and starts something new. Unfortunately, with new friends comes new feelings and some things are sometimes best hidden from families.

**Info: **AU. Ed has real limbs. Everyone in here is in their twenty's for ages. Trisha is still alive in this story and their dad left when they were younger.

Part 7

Ed sat on a stool in the kitchen with his arms crossed over his chest, watching as Maes and Jean were concocting something in the glasses that sat before them. Being underage, Ed never really drank anything before other than soda and tea that he made himself at home.

"Come on, Edo," Jean said, having glanced over at him and saw the odd face he was making. "It doesn't taste nearly as bad as it looks."

"Great," he replied, rolling his eyes and hopping off the stool. "What the heck is that anyway?"

Jean grinned. "Not gonna tell ya."

"You know, I'm not the one you should be surprising," Ed said, moving around the island where the guys were working. "It is Roy's birthday party, not mine."

"Oh we know, my boy," Maes assured him, grinning as he pushed the glass toward where Ed now stood. "We'll be surprising Roy later, don't worry."

Raising his eyebrow, Ed picked up the glass and took a sip. The taste, Jean was right; it didn't taste nearly as bad as the site of it. It was sweet yet sour at the same time and it didn't leave a horrid aftertaste in his mouth. When he sat the glass back down on the island, he found that Jean and Maes were staring at him.

"Well?" They asked in unison.

"It was good," Ed said, nodding to them. When he went to pick the glass up to take another sip, the glass was swiped from his grasp. "Hey!"

"What are you two giving to him?" Roy asked, appearing out of nowhere. "I go to the bathroom and you guys are shoving alcohol down his throat already."

"It's nothing bad, I swear." Jean said as he waved his hands in front of him.

"It's doesn't even have that much alcohol in it," Maes added.

Roy took a sip of the drink then sat it down in front of Ed, nodding. Moving over the to fridge, Ed watched as Roy opened the door and took out a soda.

"It's too early for drinking," Roy shrugged when he opened the soda and drank some. "Besides, I want to make sure they don't give you anything too strong for now." He added, winking at Ed.

With a blush creeping over his cheeks, Ed looked down at his drink before taking another gulp. His first real party other than his family's parties, he really wasn't sure what to expect from it. Especially since it was a party with his boyfriend and alcohol involved. As he drank some of his drink, he could hear the others in the background talking about the different things Maes planned on torturing Roy with for his birthday. When the guys had seen the movie Ed had picked out, their faces broke out into the biggest grins. He didn't know it at the time, but the movie he had chosen was one of Roy's favorite movies. Though, Ed had never seen the more nor had he ever questioned Roy about the fact. Guess he got lucky about the choice.

Hours later, Ed found himself sitting on the couch beside Roy with the lights off and the movie on. Havoc and Maes were sitting on the floor in front of the television. When Ed glanced down at the two when the movie was starting he could see Havoc trying to scooch his way behind Maes, as if to hide himself. Chuckling, Ed leaned more against the back of the couch, not sitting too close to Roy but not too far away either. He knew it was the man's birthday and even know the two on the floor knew about them, he preferred not to go galavanting it around. Though, he didn't really know what to do in a situation like this. He had already had two drink and though he wasn't feeling anything he was pretty sure the rest of them were. Maes had at least 4 drinks, Jean had nearly six and Roy, well, he was working on his fifth. Occassionally, Roy would give his cup over to Ed to take a drink, and he would but he really didn't want to get completely drunk. He could still remember what happened the first night that he had seen Roy drunk. Beside him, he felt the couch move slight and then felt an arm move around his shoulders.

"I'm not gonna attack you or anything, Ed," Roy whispered into Ed's ear as the movie started. "Relax, okay?"

Ed nodded and moved so he could get comfortable leaning on Roy. He had to admit that it was very comfortable and warm leaning against him, not to mention it felt very romantic despite the two goofballs on the floor.

"Very good choice of movie," the man added, taking a sip of his drink. "Jean, get up and get us some more to drink before you go finding someplace to hide. It's ur fault for letting him pick a movie, anyway."

Raising his eyebrow, Ed watched as Jean stuck his tongue out at Roy then proceeded to go do what he asked.

"Jean's afraid of horror movies," Roy laughed. "You wouldn't think it but he is."

"I've never really watched movies before," Ed admited, staring at the screen. "I was always hanging around with my brother getting into trouble and whatnot."

He heard Roy chuckle. "Don't kill me when you try to hide behind me, all right?"

Turning, he glared at Roy. "What makes you think I will be scared?"

Roy leaned in closer to Ed's face, leaning down to see that Maes was focused on his drink and the tv. "Because," Roy started, "If you are, then I can cuddle up closer to you and have a damned good reason."

A blush crossed over Ed's cheeks.

Planting a feathery kiss on Ed's lips, Roy smiled as he sat back up to watch the movie.

Ed stared at him for a moment longer, before turning to watch the movie. Needless to say, he wished Roy was right and that he did get scared. Even if it was just an excuse to cuddle up more to Roy, he didn't mind. When Jean returned with the drinks, the movie had progressed slightly, leaving him to take his position sitting behind Maes to hide from the scary aliens in the movie. Ed chuckled a bit and took a swig from his drink. With each scene in the movie, Roy was right. Ed was scared. He was now copying what Jean was doing with Maes. Who knew that he would be scared by a movie, he obviously didn't and Roy seemed to be rather enjoying the fact. It didn't help that they were all now nearly completely drunk halfway through the movie. Jean had the excuse, during the scarier parts that he was going to go get another round of drinks for everyone. Ed had no such excuse, so he did the only thing he could do. Hide.

Roy kept his arm around Ed, squeezing him tighter when he felt the boy tense at the different parts of the movie. Even through his drunken haze he could still read the boy's reactions to the movie. When the movie ended, Ed and Jean had managed to get completely behind their "saviors." Both Maes and Roy were laughing now, along with Ed and Jean who were drunk. An entire movie, watched in a drunken haze and they had made it out alive. Now with the lights off, the tv turned off, and the time of day, the room they were was completely dark.

Jean stood to move toward the wall to turn on the light but managed to get himself tangled in the wiring of the game system that was on the floor and fell the ground. Maes was laughing too hard to care about the fact that it was completely dark and Jean had just fallen. He fell onto his side, laughing. Roy stood up off the couch and turned around, thinking it best to stay near the couch or else he would end up on the floor as well. Of course, when a group of guys are in one room and drunk, nothing good can come from it.

Ed made the mistake of moving right after Roy had gotten up, not know that Roy was in front of him. He knocked over Roy, who incidently fell over Maes who was laying on the floor. With a few loud bangs and such, the floor was now littered in four drunken guys, laying all over eachother. Laughter filled the small room.

"Oye, Jean, get your foot out of my face," Maes said, laughing.

"Roy? Are you okay?" Ed asked, laughter in his voice. He had never really felt like this, his head was light and he didn't really care about anything at the moment.

"Come on, guys," Roy said, grunting as he tried to move but found himself laying on top of Maes with Ed on his back. "We shouldn't be laying on eachother."

"We're drunk," Jean nearly yelled, "what do I care?"

Another round of laughter and Ed managed to get himself off of Roy long enough to get back onto the couch. He could feel his head beginning to get light, though he enjoyed the feeling a bit. Felt as if there was some weight lifted off his shoulders, guess that's what getting drunk does to a person. He felt the other end of the couch move and glanced down to see only the outline of a figure sitting on the last cushion.

"Roy?"

No answer.

"Roy?"

More movement came and he found himself underneath Jean who thought that Ed needed a major tickle attack at that moment. Laughter rang out throw the room as Jean tortured Ed with his tickle attack which he name "Tickle attack of doom." The man is insane, not much more to say about it. Jean managed to get Ed onto the floor where Maes seemed to think they were wrestling and joined in on the act, much to Ed's dismay. Now it was a battle of two against one and Roy seemed to have gone missing.

"Roy!" Ed yelled, his voice slurred, between fits of laughter. "Roy, help me!"

"Mwahahahaha," Maes laughed, standing up and swaying while he did so. "Roy will not save you, his is in the bathroom!"

"No," Ed managed to get out, wiggling out of their hold. He couldn't stop his laughter, they were torturing him, yes but he was having fun. "Can't catch me!"

On wobbly feet, Ed managed to get away from the two and found himself leaning against the door of a very clean bedroom. He could hear Jean and Maes arguing on the other side about whether just to leave him in there and wait for him to come out or to try to get the door open. After a short while, he heard them agree to get another drink while they wait for their victim to come out. Breathing a sigh of relief, at least he would have a little bit of peace; he moved away from the door and moved around the room. As he moved around the room, he held onto the furniture, trying to keep himself stable. He knew he was safer a bit longer before the other two would come and find him again once they have had their drink.

Letting go of the dresser, he stumbled over to the bed and fell on top of it, finding it very soft. Swinging his feet up, he lay on the bed, smiling to himself.

_This alcohol is really getting to me, _he thought to himself. _I smell Roy._

As he lay there, lingering in the smell of coffee and cologne on the bed sheets he thought of the next few weeks. It was almost time for him to start school. He would soon have to reveal his little secret to his family, which would not be a pretty sight. Sighing, he cuddled in closer to the pillow that he now held hostage in his arms. Slowly, he felt his eyes drift closed. Sleep overtook him. It was either the alcohol taking its toll or the comfort smell of Roy that made him feel safe that soothed him to sleep. Either way, he was unaware of the company that watched him from the doorway.

"Should we wake him," Jean asked, his speech very slurred.

"No," Roy said in a surprisingly smooth voice. "It's late now; you guys should go pass out in the living room."

Maes laughed quietly, patting him on the back. "Don't have too much fun, there, Royboy."

Roy shook his head as he pulled the door closed behind him and made his way over to the bed. Smiling, he leaned down and placed a kiss on Ed's forehead before climbing in bed on the other side. He felt the smaller man shift as the bed moved and soon felt a body very close to his own. Carefully, he reached his arm over and wrapped it around Ed's waist and pulled him in closer to him. The warmth was nice and the feeling of love was even better. For him, the party had been a success, he just wanted really one thing for his birthday and that was Ed.

**An: well there is the next chapter, long and took too long to write. Sorry if it is crappy, I am working on another story as well and trying to get ready for another convention I am going to. The next chapter Ed will start school, so it will be a jump between the end of this one and the next one but I will explain that one in the beginning of the next chapter. Please review and tell me what you think, please! **


	8. Trouble?

**Thanks to **all of those who reviewed my last chapter and those or favorited/alerted this chapter!! It warms my heart knowing that you all love this and want more. I apologize for the lateness of this chapter but I am getting ready for New York Anime Fest at the end of September and the cosplay and accessories are taking up much of my time. I will try my best to get the updates up quicker because I love you all!!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own FMA… sad for me lol

**Title: **A New College Life

**Pairing: **Roy x Ed

**Summary: **Ed leaves his family in Resembol to enter a college in Central City where he learns to become a science major. While in Central City he meets his new friends and starts something new. Unfortunately, with new friends comes new feelings and some things are sometimes best hidden from families.

Part 8

Ed stood outside the large college entryway, staring at just how big the building was. Sure, he had seen it in passing and the few times he had gone there with one of the guys but to go there for his first day of class was going to be rough. He hadn't really taken to heart what Gracia said when she warned him that he could get lost and the campus was huge. Sighing, he ran a hand through this hair, having nearly lost all of his hair bands he was forced to leave it down until he could get some more. Though, he was pretty sure that if he did manage to find some more that Roy was mysteriously "lose" those as well. It was amazing that he kept the few at work for when he had to have his hair back that he didn't try to get rid of those too.

"Edo," he heard his name called from behind him and found Roy making his way up to him.

"How many times have I asked you not to call me that," Ed asked, shaking his head at the smirk that covered his face. "I don't like it."

"Sorry, hun," he replied, placing a light kiss on his forehead. "What's your first class?"

"Like I haven't told you a million times in the last three weeks while I was rushing around in a panic attack that you didn't help with at all," Ed sighed, shaking his head as he looked up at Roy. "It's English, for one thing, and why do you keep taking all of my hair bands, I don't want to go to school looking like this!"

"Sorry, but you just look too good like this," Roy said, smiling as he began to get smacked by Ed. "I'll stop, I'll stop!"

Rolling his eyes, Ed turned away and began walking toward the front doors of the college.

"I promise!" He heard Roy say as he caught up. "I'll let you keep one so you can pull your hair back at school but when you come over and such, I just want your hair down, please?"

Laughing, Ed nodded. He didn't know how he had survived this long without saying no to the man but every time he asked for something, Ed couldn't help it. With help from Roy he managed to make it to his English class on time before many of the other students showed up. A blush covered his cheeks when Roy leaned down and placed a kiss on his cheek before walking off down the hall. For once, he was happy that it was still early morning and there weren't too many college students on campus yet. He didn't need rumors starting already when he just began college. Sighing, he took at seat in the back of the classroom and watched as the other students filed into the room. This was a freshman English class so he guessed that most of the people in the room were freshman too but they looked like they all had someone to talk to already.

_Should have gotten more friends, _he thought to himself before shaking his head.

When the professor walked into the room, everyone quieted down and class started. He hadn't heard most of what the professor was saying as the minutes turned to hours. English was just one subject that he knew he wasn't going to like; yeah he liked reading books but not learning about how to write or read into the books. Nearly all the books in the library, he was sure that he had already read. Roy liked his strange obsession with reading and liking all things with science and such. This was definitely going to be a long semester.

By three in the afternoon, Ed was ready to go home. It was three hours of English lecture in the morning than a two hour art lesson after that. He didn't really want to go to work that evening. Scratching the back of his head, he wasn't paying attention to where he was walking as he was trying to make his way to the front gate. He had told Roy he would meet him so they could go out for a bite to eat before he had to head for work. Rounding the last corner before the front doors, Ed looked up to find Roy sitting at the gate looking at a book. Smirking, he made his way toward the unsuspecting man.

As he neared the man, his smirked grew. _He must really be concentrating on that book, _he thought to himself when he found himself right beside him. Leaning down, he knelt on the ground beside him, just out of the man's sight. As he held his breath, he leaned in closer to his ear and gently blew into his ear.

"God dammit!" Roy yelled, tossing his book up and instinctively moving away. When he turned he found Ed smirking beside him. "Ed…"

"Yes?" Ed put on a cute face and smiled at Roy.

"What the heck was that for? You scared me half to death," Roy sighed, leaning back against the wall he had been previously leaning against.

"You were concentrating on your book so I thought I would see if I could startle you," Ed explained still smiling. "I'm sorry that I scared you."

Rolling his eyes, Roy stood and helped Ed up. "Come on, let's go get you fed before your afternoon class," he said, linking his hand in Ed's as they walked off campus. "God's knows you are never full."

"Hey!"

"It's true," Roy said, chuckling. "I've never heard you say that you were full or couldn't eat another bite. You're always finishing off what I don't eat."

Pouting, Ed allowed himself to be led toward a small café not that far from the college. Once inside they were shown to a table and sat down. Roy positioned himself so that he had his foot hooked around Ed's. His eyes focused on the menu that the waitress had given to them. Ed smiled and picked up his menu to look at the choices. Over the last couple of months, he had gotten used to the idea of him and Roy being together for a while. Every once in awhile, the six of them would go out together (him, Roy, Jean and Melissa, Gracia and Maes) but it was the nights that they spent alone, either at his place or Roy's that really made him happy. After the waitress returned and took their orders, Roy turned back to stare at Ed.

"What is your afternoon class?" Roy asked, reaching his hand out to play with Ed's fingers.

"Chemistry," Ed replied, smiling.

"Yikes."

"What? I love chemistry."

Roy grinned. "I love our chemistry."

Now, it was his turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

After they finished their lunch, the two made their way back to the college. Roy gave Ed one last kiss before they split ways again to go off to their afternoon classes. Ed was excited to go to his next class. Out of all of his classes for his first semester, he knew that he was going to enjoy Chemistry the best, he just didn't know how much. Once he entered the large classroom, he found that the tables were already marked for where each student was to sit. A few other students were already in their sits, either talking away to the others or browsing the chemistry book. He noted that not all the students were as eager to learn chemistry as he was. Shaking his head he made his way to about the middle of the classroom where his seat of marked.

"Russell?" He said aloud, reading the name off of the sign that marked who was going to sit next to him. Taking his seat, he pulled his chemistry book out and started flipping through the pages. Truth be told, he had been looking through the book the past week and nearly had all of it read by now. More time passed before he heard a thud beside him, startling him as he was deep in reading. Looking to his right, he saw the back of who he assumed was Russell.

When the guy turned around, he wore a stupid grin. _Oh my god, _Ed thought when he saw the smile the guy wore. _This guy is going to drive me insane. _

"Hey," he said, holding out his hand. "The name's Russell but you probably already guessed that by the sign."

"I'm Ed." He replied, taking the offered hand and giving it a shake. "I guess this probably means we'll be lab partners here."

As the class began, Ed found himself strangely amused by the teacher. Since he was smaller, Ed had always been fascinated by sciences of all kinds and now seeing that his teacher, who a supposed expert in Chemistry, try to teach this class was a laugh. Perhaps it was just because it was the beginning and he was just teaching the basics for the class. Either way, it amused him. He sat there, staring at the teacher and listening to the lecture.

"And now, students," the professor stated, still facing the chalkboard, "We're going to start off class with a project you'll have to complete with the person sitting next to you. They will be your lab partners for the rest of the semester and the person who you will always work with for projects. The project will be due in a month so please read the first three chapters of the book and complete the exercises at the end. Your project will be to build a working model of the examples that are in those chapters."

_A month to build working models? _Ed groaned a bit. It wasn't really the project that bugged him nor was it the fact that he had to work with a total stranger; it was the length of time given to him. He wasn't really ready to work on this project and start his other classes as well. Maybe it was good that he only started off with three classes this first semester.

"Well, the first class and already the man's assigning a project," Russell stated as the two walked out of the classroom. "Seems like this class will be tough."

"I don't mind the project really, it's just the length of time given," Ed explained as they walked to stand outside in the front courtyard. "I mean it sounds easy to building working models of something out of a book but I have a job to worry about and other classes."

"Don't worry, Ed," Russell laughed, slinging his arm over Ed's shoulder like they were best friends.

Pushing his arm off his shoulder, Ed took a step away from him. "Thanks but I'll see you next week. I've gotta get going." He nodded goodbye to Russell before running off to go find Roy so they could walk home together.

Little did Ed know, but the school year was about to get just a little more exciting.

TBC…

**AN: another chapter and I apologize again for the LONG wait I was busy with NYAF and costume making and having to deal with the doctor and surgery crap that it's been tough to write this but I got this out and I will try to have the next chapter up quicker than this one!!! R&R plz!!**


	9. Broken

**Thanks to **all of those who reviewed my last chapter and those or favorited/alerted this chapter!!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own FMA… sad for me lol

**Title: **A New College Life

**Pairing: **Roy x Ed

**Summary: **Ed leaves his family in Resembol to enter a college in Central City where he learns to become a science major. While in Central City he meets his new friends and starts something new. Unfortunately, with new friends comes new feelings and some things are sometimes best hidden from families.

Part 9

Ed sat the fountain the courtyard of the campus, looking through his English book at the different stories and things that he would have to learn through the next semester. Sighing, he thought about the project that he had to do and now he had to worry about the touchy-feely guy named Russell. In the past week, the first week of the school semester, he managed to through Russell's arm off of his shoulders nearly twenty times. Even though he told Russell that he was dating someone, the guy didn't seem to care. Ed didn't know Roy would react if he had seen what his lab partner fancied doing. He was just glad that it was Friday and he didn't have classes until Monday evening. Now, he was just waiting for Roy to get out of class so that they could go back to his place to hang out for awhile.

"Hey, Blondie," he heard a familiar voice say from his left.

Looking up he saw Russell standing there, wearing that stupid grin of his. "What is it, Russ?"

Sitting down beside the blond, Russell replied, "nothing, just wondering what you were up to?"

"I'm waiting for Roy right now," Ed stated, looking back down to his English book.

"You know, we only have three weeks until our chemistry project is due," the other explained, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "We should probably start working on it."

"We were working on it all during our study period in the library," Ed exclaimed, his attention taken away from his English.

"I know but we aren't going to get everything done in the library, Ed," he explained, smiling and looking at Ed. "We'll have to get together outside of class to work on it at our homes."

"Russ, I am not letting you into my house," was the reply as Ed turned to look back to his book. "We are doing just fine in the library."

"Why not? I haven't done anything?"

"No, Russell," Ed stated before closing his book and standing up. "I don't really feel comfortable with the idea of you in my apartment, okay? Now, I have to go before you get me into any trouble."

As Ed stood up to leave the library to meet Roy at the front counter, Russell grabbed his arm preventing him from leaving. Ed didn't turn around to look at Russ but just kept still for a moment before trying to jerk his arm free from his grip.

"Ed…"

"Let go, Russell," Ed said, his voice low but there was still a hint of anger lingering within.

"No, not until you listen to me," Russell stated, his grip on Ed's arm not letting up at all. "I don't know what I did but I'm not going to say sorry because frankly I don't think I've done anything wrong. All I want to do is be your friend, what's wrong with that?"

"My friend?" Ed turned around to look at him, still unable to get his arm free. "No, Russ, we won't be friends unless you get the idea in your head that I already have a boyfriend and that I don't want you slinging your arm over me all the time and flirting with me. A real friend would know when you back off with that kind of stuff. I'm finally happy with someone and you are trying to ruin that! Now, just please let go so I can go out with Roy."

"Ed, please," Russell started to say.

"Let go."

Before Ed could react, Russell jerked his arm forward causing him to fall toward Russell. Russell caught Ed in his arms and held him tight against him, not letting up or letting go. Despite all of Ed's struggles, he could not get out of the hold that he was now held within. It was making him angrier and more self-conscious. If Roy saw him like this, he knew that he would probably get mad at him and that wouldn't be something good. Trying again, he pushed against Russell's chest with little movement.

"Edward…" Russell whispered his mouth near Ed's ear. "Please don't be angry at me."

"Russell, just let me go," Ed said, grating his teeth together. He really didn't want Roy to walk in at that moment to find him in Russell's arms. Despite this being a totally unwanted action, anyone would take it the wrong way with just a look. "We'll talk about this later, just let go."

Russell loosened his grip on Ed but held his shoulders tight before leaning down and kissing Ed full on the lips.

Ed's eyes widened, both with anger and surprise. Lifting his hands up he shoved Russell away from him, causing him to fall backwards into the table that they had been sitting at previously. Standing back, Ed wiped his mouth off with his sleeve, like he could remove any traces of what had happened with just wiping it away. When he turned around to leave the library, he saw Roy standing at the doorway with an unreadable expression on his face. Before he could move away from where he stood to talk to Roy, the man had turned as left without a word. Ed could hear Russell laughing behind him but ignored him and ran after Roy. Once outside of the library, he saw that Roy was already gone.

He stood there for awhile, staring out at the open courtyard that lay before the library, unsure of what to do. It was his first relationship with someone and now someone else had tried to ruin it. As he stood there, his mind began to wander to ideas of what was going to happen. He knew that Roy was angry, hell he would be angry to if he saw someone kissing Roy but he wanted to explain to Roy what had happened. Life just wasn't fair sometimes. Slowly, as the thoughts raced through his mind, he began to walk home despite having another class to attend and work that night, he just wanted to be home. He couldn't call Al and talk; he had yet to tell his family of his relationship with Roy, though he could tell that Al was beginning to figure it out a bit. Roy would most certainly go to Maes and he didn't entirely trust the rest of the bunch with this.

The walk seemed to take forever, cars whipping by as the world seemed to crawl for him. He knew that he had to talk to Roy, to try to explain to him that he wasn't kissing Russell and that the kiss was not something he wanted. But would Roy listen to him? That, he wasn't sure about. His mind was gone, by now he could feel the tears sliding down his cheeks and falling off his chin. The sounds around him didn't reach his ears; the people around him were nothing but blurry images that hindered his way home. He didn't even realize that he was crossing the street, the last one before his apartment until pain raced through his body.

"Roy…" He grunted out before the sight before him became dark and unconsciousness overcame him.

TBC…

AN: Sorry the long interval between updates and how short this chapter is T_T this was a hard one to write, wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do about this but I am sure I know now how the next chapters are going to pan out ^_^ yay me!! Please review and tell me what you think!! I'll try to get the next chapter out in the next week or two!!!


	10. Am I

**THANKS FOR ALL OF THE SUPPORT!! I AM REALLY HAPPY THAT SO MANY PEOPLE ARE ENJOYING MY STORY AND I APOLOGIZE FOR THE SHORTNESS AND THE CLIFFY AT THE END OF THE LAST CHAPTER BUT I HOPE YOU ALL WILL STILL READ THIS. ^_^**

**Disclaimer**: I don't own FMA… sad for me lol

**Title**: A New College Life

**Pairing**: Roy x Ed

**Summary**: Ed leaves his family in Resembol to enter a college in Central City where he learns to become a science major. While in Central City he meets his new friends and starts something new. Unfortunately, with new friends comes new feelings and some things are sometimes best hidden from families.

Part 10

_Am I dreaming? _Darkness surrounded his mind. No feeling left in his body as he tried to move around in the utter darkness. _Where am I? _Fear began to fill his body as his mind was beginning to catch up with him. _Am I dead? I… I don't know where I am! _As a shiver like feeling ran through his body, he turned around and around in the darkness, trying find a shred of light that would wake him from his nightmare. _Why is it so dark? _He ran forward, toward nothing but hoping to find something. His mind was frantic with questions and fear. He didn't was to be dead but at the same time he wished for the icy hand of death to come take him away. _Al? Mom?_ Screaming, he fell to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks falling into the darkness below him. _Please! Where am I?_

"..ward…"

_Mom! I'm here. _He yelled, standing back up and looking around again but found only darkness. _Mom, please, where am I?_

"…wake up, Edward…"

_Mom, I can't. I don't know what's wrong! _Again, he tried running into the darkness. _Please, mom, hear me! _

"…ease, get her out of here…"

_What? No! Mom!! _He could hear the faint found of crying coming from somewhere as he ran. _Mom, don't leave me. Mom!! _More voices sounded out around him, ones he didn't recognize, ones he didn't know. They were yelling about something and counting. _Mom, what's going on? _He stopped running and turned around where he stood. _Mom, please. _More tears ran down his cheeks as he tried to make sense of what was going on.

"… 3… 2… 1…"

Pain coursed through his body, he clutched at his chest as he fell to his knees. _No, please, stop. Mom!! _As the pain lightened in his body, he began to feel his body going limp. _Mom, what's going on…? _Another course of pain shot through his body and the voices that he had been hearing were slowly going away. His eyelids were slowly becoming heavy as another shot of pain raced through him. _Mom, am I dying?_

~~**~~**~~

Trisha stood outside the room that held her son, tears falling down her cheeks. She had just been in the room, holding her son's hand and stroking his cheek. Now she was outside the room not knowing what was going on in the room with her son. All she could hear was some yelling and the faint sound of beeping. Behind her, she knew that Al and Winry were there waiting like her to know what was going on. They were all anxious to know how Ed was doing. It killed them on the inside not knowing what was going on.

"Mom," Al asked, standing up from where he sat to hug his mother. "What's wrong with Ed?"

"I don't know, Al, I don't know," she replied, allowing herself to be taken back to one of the chairs in the waiting room.

"I hope he will be okay," Al murmured, still holding onto his mother. He remembered the night that they had arrived at the hospital.

*FLASHBACK*

_Al held his mother while they were being escorted to the room that held his brother inside. He could feel her whole body shaking with sadness, he couldn't blame her though. His mind was telling him to break down as well but he couldn't. He had to be strong for his mother and help her though this pain. When they reached the room where Ed was, they were not allowed inside the room. The nurse explained that the doctor was still inside with him since he had just returned out of surgery. They waited in the waiting room, waiting for some kind of answer, something. Holding his mother, Al looked around at the others waiting in that same room. There weren't many there but across from where he sat he saw two guys that looked a little older than his brother's age. Both of them looked like they hadn't slept in a few days and one looked as if he was crying. He couldn't hear what they were saying but it seemed like they knew Ed somehow. _

"_Mrs. Elric," the nurse had called after what felt like hours. "You can come in now. Your son is in stable condition now but I cannot stress enough that his body has undergone some terrible damage."_

_Al led them into the room and helped his mother into one of the chairs before glancing back out at the two that sat in the waiting room. He managed to make contact with the dark haired one that looked as if he was crying before the door was slid shut. _

_The doctor took his place at the end of the bed where Ed laid. His eyes one the young man that lay in the bed but he spoke to the mother that sat by his side._

"_Your son was hit by a car, Mrs. Elric," the doctor explained, glancing down at the chart in his hands before looking at her. "We have him in stable condition now but after the trauma that his body was put through, we will be monitoring him very closely. It seems that his right arm took most of the initial impact and his left leg took the brunt of the fall. Your son was lucky to make it here alive but we will do our best to keep your son in stable condition."_

_Al stood beside his mother, taking in the explanation that the doctor was saying and staring at his brother. He was always so strong; he never imagined seeing him in a hospital bed with so many wires and tubes running from his body. _

"_He will make it, right?" He found himself asking before the doctor had exited the room._

*END*

Al remembered the doctor not replying to question. Sighing, he held his mother closer as hours seemed to pass without the door to his brother's door opening. As he waited, the same men from when he first arrived at the hospital came back to sit down outside the room. He was sure now that the two knew Ed but he was too worried about his brother to think more on the subject. The dark-haired one still wore the same look on his face, like he hadn't slept and the other still wore the same look of worry. Turning back, Al stared at the door of his brother's room.

Nearly an hour later, the door to his brother's room opened and the doctor walked out of the room and approached him.

"Your son has woken up," the doctor said, chancing a smile. "You may go in to see him but please be careful. His body is still weak."

Al nodded as he helped his mother up from her chair and into the room. As the door closed behind him, Trisha took a seat beside Ed's beside and took his hand in hers again.

"Edward…" She said, softly, stroking the back of his hand.

"Mom?" His voice was quiet and barely audible but it was there. "Am I dead?"

Tears slid down her cheeks as she fought back crying. "No, son, you're alive."

Ed slowly turned his head to look at his mother's face. He lifted his hand out of hers and wiped away a tear that was sliding down her cheek.

"I'm so happy that you are awake, Ed," she said, smiling at him. "Your brother is here, too."

"Al…" Ed smiled when his eyes fell on his brother's face. "Please, don't cry."

Closing his eyes, Ed relaxed into the bed. With knowing that he was alive, that the darkness was gone, he could relax. His body felt numb and despite the fact that he couldn't move his right arm or left leg, he was happy that he was alive.

"What happened to me?" He asked, keeping his eyes closed but he could sense the distress in the silence that filled the room.

"There was an accident, sweetheart," his mother explained, squeezing his hand. "But you are going to be okay now."

With his eyes closed, he tried to remember what happened to him. _I remember the library and Russell… _A tear slid down his cheek. _Roy… where's Roy?_

"Roy… where's Roy?" He asked, his eyes shot open and he looked around the room but when he saw no one but his mother and brother he closed his eyes again. "I want Roy…"

"Roy?" Trisha asked, glancing up at Al. "Who's Roy?"

"I don't kn…" Then it hit him, Al turned and opened the door to the waiting room. Peering out he saw the two men sitting in their chairs still, waiting. Closing the door behind him, he walked up the two and cleared his throat. "Excuse me, are either of you Roy?"

When the dark-haired man looked up into the eyes of the younger man that bore a striking resemblance to Ed, Al figured that it was him.

"My brother is, um, asking for you," Al said, hesitantly, not sure what really to say. He led the two men into his brother's room and stood back with the other man and watched the events unfold.

"I'm sorry," Ed whispered when he saw Roy standing beside his bed. "I'm so sorry."

"Shh." Roy said, carefully taking Ed's right hand in his and wiping the tears away from his face. He wasn't really aware of the looks that he was getting from Ed's family but he didn't really care at the moment. "Don't be sorry, Ed. I'm the one who should be sorry."

"Roy, please," Ed cried, his tears couldn't stop coming as he lifted his good hand away from his mother and wiped the tears away from Roy's face. "Please, don't cry."

"Try to sleep, Ed," Roy whispered, squeezing Ed's hand. "I'll be here when you wake up again, okay?"

Nodding, Ed closed his eyes and laid his good hand on his stomach and fell asleep. For a moment, no one spoke; they all just watched the slow rise and fall of Ed's chest.

"I think, Roy," Maes spoke up, pushing off of the wall. "That we owe Ed's family an explanation."

TBC….

**AN: Longer than the last chapter I believe and I hope this was a quicker update for you guys. Now the next time should be up by the end of next week, I hope. Granting that the ideas I have for this come out quickly and my other story doesn't hold me up. Please review!! I will gladly update more quickly with happy reviews!! Love you all!!**


	11. Explanations and Problems

**THANKS FOR ALL OF THE SUPPORT!! I AM REALLY HAPPY THAT SO MANY PEOPLE ARE ENJOYING MY STORY. ^_^**

**Disclaimer**: I don't own FMA… sad for me lol

**Title**: A New College Life

**Pairing**: Roy x Ed

Part 11

Roy sat in the cafeteria with Al and Trisha, quietly explaining what was going on between him and Ed. He was glad that Hughes had decided to stay in the room with Ed, because he wasn't sure completely how he was supposed to explain this to Ed's family. In all honesty, he wasn't even sure Ed would have wanted him to tell them now but it wasn't like he had a choice in the matter. He was sure the nervousness he felt showed on every inch of his body as he fiddled with the empty coffee cup in his hands. The others at the table were quiet throughout his entire explanation.

"I don't even know if he had mentioned it all to you guys," Roy finished, glancing up from staring at the cup to look over at Ed's family. "He'll probably be angry with me for telling you guys if he hasn't."

For a while no one spoke then Al cleared his throat and Trisha smiled.

"If you are the one that makes my son happy, then there is nothing else I can do but be happy for the both of you," Trisha said as she reached over to take Roy's hand and give it a slight squeeze. "Even if Ed does get mad at you for a bit for telling us, he'll get over it."

"I'm not surprised that brother didn't say anything," Al chuckled, shaking his head. "He isn't one to really talk about his feelings."

Roy smiled. "No, he really isn't."

"Will you be taking care of Edo when we have to return home?" Ed's mother asked before taking a sip of her tea. "I would stay myself but I have Alphonse to take care of and Winry back home. Plus, I'm sure that Ed would hate to miss more school than he has to if I took him back home to watch over him."

"If he lets me, I'll be happy to take care of him," he replied, smiling at her but thinking to himself _Ed should be mad at me right now. I'm the one who did this to him. _

"Let's go back to brother's room," Al said, standing up. "I'm sure your friend, um, Hughes, will want to go home and rest."

Nodding, Roy led the way back to Ed's room where they found Hughes sleeping in a chair and Ed staring out the window. When Roy slid the door closed after Ed's family had entered the room, Ed turned his head to look over at them a small smile on his lips. Roy moved over to the bedside and leaned down placing a soft kiss against Ed's forehead causing him to blush slightly.

"You weren't here when I woke up," Ed whispered while Roy was still close to him. "You said you would be."

"I'm sorry," Roy said, taking his hand and sitting down. "I had to go talk with your family."

"Oh," he replied before turning to look over at his mother and brother. "So you know now?"

Trisha smiled and nodded while Al did the same.

The four of them spoke together for a while before Roy woke Hughes up and decided that he had to take his friend home. Ed had told his family to stay at his apartment for however long they would be there. He wasn't sure when he would be getting out of the hospital though he hoped it was sooner rather than later. He was happy when Roy offered to take them to his apartment so he wouldn't have to worry about his family. Getting on last kiss from Roy, Ed turned as much as he could and lay down to sleep. His eyelids grew heavier as the drugs were beginning to take over again.

.*.*.*.*.*.

Roy sat in his car outside of his apartment building, staring up at the dark night sky. Stars glistens in the dark world above, shining their light on the city below them. Tears slid down Roy's cheeks as he stared up, hoping that Ed would make it out of this without too much damage done to his body and hoped that Ed would forgive him for walking out on him. Sliding his hands together on the steering wheel he laid his head against the back of his hands and cried. Part of him wanted Ed to be angry with him, wanted him to hate the sight of him but the other part was glad that Ed wasn't angry. He was angry with himself for walking out, for leaving Ed alone and just leaving but he didn't even think when he did that.

"Will Ed forgive me for leaving him and causing him this pain?" Roy asked through the sobs that wrecked his body. He was glad that no one else was in the car with him to witness this side of him. Maes had seen enough at the hospital of his pathetic side. He didn't want to show Ed this; he wanted Ed to see that he would still be there for him throughout this whole thing. Turning his head, he kept it against his hands but now stared out the window at the darkness that surrounded him. "What am I going to do?"

Shutting off his car, he got out of his car and started his way up to his apartment. With his hands in his pockets, he walked down the short walkway that led up to the building itself.

"You know," he heard someone say to his left as he climbed the few steps to the doors.

Jumping slightly, Roy turned to see the blond from the library standing outside the doors. "What do you want?"

"It's pretty easy to find you, Roy Mustang," Russell said, grinning up at the man from where he stood leaning against the building. "You're little boy-toy tastes pretty good, you know."

Roy's fisted his hands in his pockets. "So you're the one who kissed Ed?"

Smiling, Russell pushed himself off of the wall and walked up to Roy. "Yeah, I was the one who did that. He looked absolutely devastated when you walked in on our little private time."

Gritting his teeth, Roy somehow managed to keep himself from punching the guy right in the face. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I want him," Russell sneered, glaring up at Roy. "You don't deserve him at all."

"Why not? What have I done that's remotely bad?" He was really starting to get angry with this guy. Not only had he kissed his boyfriend but now he was trying to take him away completely.

"Everything! You are a pompous lady's man who thinks he's too good for anything that won't let you in their pants," Russell explained, nearly snarling out every word. "I know who you are and that you're only in this relationship just to get into his pants!"

Roy glared at the younger man. "You are absolutely wrong," he said very quietly as he started advancing on the younger man. "I haven't done anything to Ed that he hasn't wanted which for you information, is none of your business. Ed and I are very happy together before you came along and decided to put your two cents into this and cause lots of pain for Ed and I. Ed's in the hospital thanks to your idiocy!"

"Hospital?"

"Yes, didn't you hear me, right? Thanks to your little display and what happened afterwards, Ed managed to get hit by a car and is now in the hospital," Roy said, his voice hid no anger as Russell was now backed up to the side of the building. "I suggest you just leave us alone and go play your childish games with someone else."

"I won't give up this easily, Mustang," Russell said when Roy turned around to go into the apartment building.

"Then I suggest you don't let your guard down," with that Roy entered the apartment building, the door locking behind him. As he walked down the hallway to the staircase, he could feel Russell's eyes boring into his back. He couldn't believe that this guy was really trying to break him and Ed up. What's more is that he couldn't believe that it had nearly worked and killed Ed in the process. Making his way up to his apartment door, he sighed as he opened the door and slumped against it once inside. "What am I going to do?"

TBC…

Sorry for the late update, had some internet problems and then freaking snow problems then working on my Bakura and Teito cosplays for Katsucon kept me away but here it is! The next chapter!! Enjoy please!!


	12. Comfort

**THANKS FOR ALL OF THE SUPPORT! I AM REALLY HAPPY THAT SO MANY PEOPLE ARE ENJOYING MY STORY. ^_^**

**Disclaimer**: I don't own FMA… sad for me lol

**Title**: A New College Life

**Pairing**: Roy x Ed

Part 12

Nearly a week after Ed was placed into the hospital; he was released into Roy's care. Roy had managed to convince Ed's family that he was in good hands with Roy and that they should return home to take care of themselves. With much reluctance Trisha and Al returned home to Risembol while Ed went home with Roy. It wasn't like he was against being taken care of by his boyfriend but the entire idea of being taken care of didn't sit well with Ed. Still, he kept his mouth shut for the most part and only argued a bit here and there.

"Ed," Roy called from his kitchen. "You have class tomorrow, remember?"

"Yea," Ed sighed, leaning his head against the back of the couch. "I don't want to see him."

Roy exited the kitchen with two cups of coffee and handed one to Ed before taking a seat beside him. "I know, Ed, but you have to go to class even just to get the assignments that you've missed."

"I know," Ed whispered and shook his head before taking a sip of the warm coffee. "I just don't want to seem all nervous around him and make him think he won something."

Roy leaned over and kissed the top of Ed's head. "He hasn't won anything," Roy assured him as he pulled him to lean into his side. "If you want, I'll go with you to get your things from the teacher."

Ed shook his head. Sighing, he sipped at his coffee with his eyes focused on the bandages that still covered his arm. He still couldn't remember completely what had caused him to be in the hospital but now there were scars left that even he couldn't look at. Whenever the doctors would remove the bandages to change them or check to make sure that the wounds were healing, he always looked the other way. He didn't want to see them and he didn't want anyone else to see them. In truth, he felt the need to hide away and not let anyone see him now. After a short while, Ed stood from the couch and left the living room.

Roy watched silently as Ed made his way to their room. _I don't know what's going on in that mind of his,_ he thought to himself before getting up to put his cup in sink. Leaning on the counter, he sighed. He wasn't really sure what to do with Ed now that something like this happened. Russell was going to be in his mind for a long time until he could get him out of that class. Life was going to be rough for a while with everything now. With Ed's arm all scarred up from the accident and his leg only healed enough for walking for short distances, he wasn't sure how much help Ed could really take. It was only to be a matter of time before something else happened. Taking a deep breath, Roy turned all the lights of the apartment off and made his way to his room as well. Maybe a good night's sleep was something they both really needed.

Morning came too quickly for Ed. He found himself sitting in the bathtub staring at the wall with boredom. His life seemed to slow down now. Before the accident, he was happy with Roy and happy with where he was but not now. The flash of Russell's kiss swept through his mind, stirring him out of his staring contest with the wall. Screaming out loud he slammed his injured hand down onto the side of the tub causing more pain for himself but ridding the picture from his mind. As he held his hand to his chest with tears silently streaming down his cheeks a knocking sounded on his door.

"Ed? Are you okay in there?"

Looking up at the door, Ed couldn't find his voice to answer. He shook his head and moved his hands to cover his face. Shame washed over his body as the entire memory of what happened replayed in his mind. Russell holding his shoulders and not letting go then leaning down to kiss him; the look on Roy's face when he finally saw him the doorway, everything was replaying constantly in his mind. Even as Ed shook his head he couldn't shake the pictures from his head.

"Please," Ed whispered, pulling his knee up to his chest. "Go away…"

"Ed! Answer me!" Roy yelled frantically outside the doorway.

Silently, Ed slid further down into the bathtub full of water as far as his injured leg would allow. He wanted to scream and he wanted the images to go away. Before the water slid above his head, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. His mind was filled with the images that he hated so much, the images that haunted his dreams. All he wanted was to be rid of them, to be free of this feeling of guilt in his stomach. How could Roy be happy with him now?

"Ed, you're scaring me!" Roy banged the door again with no answer still. He was beginning to get frustrated and scared not knowing if he was okay in the bathroom or not. Turning around, he ran into the living room and began rummaging through the door in the desk. "Come on, where is it?" Pushing things aside, he managed to find the key that would open the bathroom door.

"Ed, I'm coming inside," Roy announced before unlocking the door and entering the bathroom. Seeing Ed in the tub beneath the water, Roy nearly tripped when he moved over to the tub and pulled Ed from beneath the water. "Ed, what the hell are you thinking?"

Coughing, Ed, he shook his head and covered his face. "I can't…"

"Calm down, please." Roy held him against his chest, rocking back and forth, trying his best to calm him down.

"I can't do this anymore…" Ed cried out, trying to push himself away from Roy. "I love you; I love you too much to hurt you. Russell will just try this again, he'll do it again!"

"Shhh, you take care of yourself, let me deal with Russell," the older said, keeping a tight hold on Ed's shoulder. "Now listen to me."

Sniffling, Ed kept his head down, staring at his legs.

"I love you, Ed, I love you too much to let you go," Roy said, squeezing a bit. "The last time I made that mistake and you got hurt. I should've confronted Russell at that moment but I was surprised and angry. Believe me, Ed; I regret not punching him in the face that day. You mean more to me than anything else. So, please, Ed, don't say that you can't do this anymore because I think you can. Don't give up, please."

Ed stared at Roy, into his eyes, believing in his heart that what Roy was saying was true. Nodding slowly, he wrapped his arms around Roy's shoulders and squeezed tightly.

Smiling, Roy slowly rubbed up and down Ed's back. "Now, let's get ready to go back to school. I know everyone is worried about you, alright?"

AN: I am completely and utterly sorry for how long it took me to get this update out! I will hopefully get the next one up sooner than it took me to get this one out! Please forgive me!


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